L  B 


20   bOt> 


I/^^ENERAL    STATUTES 


(Lommonteltjj  of  l 


RELATING  TO  THE 


PUBLIC   SCHOOLS, 


ALTERATIONS   AND   AMENDMENTS 


To    1870. 


BOSTON: 

WRIGHT    &    POTTER,    STATE    PRINTERS, 

79  MILK  STREET  (COKXEK  OF  FEDERAL). 

1875. 


GIFT  OF 


THE 


GENERAL    STATUTES 


dbommonfoealtjj  of 


RELATING  TO  THE 


PUBLIC  SCHOOLS, 


ALTEKATIONS   A]STD  AMENDMENTS 


To    1876. 


BOSTON: 

WRIGHT    &   POTTER,    STATE    PRINTERS, 

79  MIXK.  STREET  (CORNER  OP  FEDERAL). 

1875. 


N  O  T  E 


Soon  after  the  publication  of  the  General  Statutes,  Mr.  Bout- 
well  published  as  a  part  of  the  Twenty-fourth  Report  of  the 
Secretary  of  the  Board,  the  school  laws  as  then  just  revised, 
with  a  valuable  commentary.  This  report  gave  valuable  aid  to 
the  teachers  and  to  all  persons  having  the  supervision  of  the 
schools.  The  edition  becoming  exhausted,  a  pamphlet  edi- 
tion of  the  school  laws  was  published  in  1867,  embracing 
all  the  amendments  made  up  to  the  time  of  publication,  without 
note  or  comment,  except  that  references  to  the  early  amend- 
ments, to  the  Acts  and  Resolves  previous  to  the  General  Stat- 
utes, and  to  the  decisions  of  the  supreme  court,  were  noted  in 
the  margin. 

Although  a  large  edition  was  printed,  it  is  now  exhausted  ; 
moreover,  numerous  and  important  changes  in  the  laws  have 
been  made  in  the  interim,  making  it  difficult  to  ascertain  the 
state  of  the  laws  in  many  important  particulars,  so  that  there  is 
an  urgent  demand  for  another  revised  edition.  To  meet  this 
demand  is  the  main  business  of  this  Report. 

In  preparing  this  edition  I  have  endeavored  to  incorporate 
the  amendments  with  the  text  of  the  several  chapters,  wherever 
this  could  be  done  without  a  change  of  the  language  of  the 
amendment ;  when  this  was  not  practicable,  the  amendment  is 
printed  as  a  whole  immediately  following  the  section  or  sections 
to  which  it  applies.  In  either  case  the  new  matter  is  enclosed 
in  brackets,  thus  [  ],  with  marginal  references  to  chapter 
quoted  and  the  date  thereof. 

Following  each  chapter  will  be  found  brief  comments  upon 
the  more  important  sections,  taken  in  considerable  part  from  the 
twenty-fourth  report,  also  enclosed  in  brackets. 

In  addition  to  these  are  the  decisions  of  the  supreme  judicial 
court,  in  such  cases  as  have  arisen  for  adjudication.  This  is  a 
new,  and,  I  cannot  but  think,  a  valuable  feature. 

The  comments  and  decisions  are  printed  at  the  close  of  each 
chapter,  and  the  several  sections  to  which  they  refer  are  indi- 
cated by  their  number  thus — (Sect.  4.) 

QQf  3 


LAWS  KELATING-.TO  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS. 


ANCIENT    LAWS. 

"Forasmuch  as   the  good   Education  of  Children  is  of  Singular 
Laws  of  1642,      behoofe  and  benefit  to  any  Commonwealth,  and  whereas 
many  Parents  and  Masters  are  too  indulgent  and  neg- 
ligent of  their  duty  in  that  kind  ; 

"  It  is  Ordered,  that  the  chosen  men  for  managing  the  prudentials 
of  every  Town,  in  the  several  Precincts  and  quarters  where  they  dwell, 
shall  have  a  vigilant  eye  over  their  neighbors,  to  see,  First  that  none 
of  uieni  shall  suffer  so  much  Barbarism  in  any  of  their  families,  as 
not  to  endeavor  to  teach,  by  themselves  or  others,  their  Children  and 
Apprentices,  so  much  learning  as  may  enable  them  to  read  perfectly 
the  English  tongue,  and  a  knowledge  of  the  Capital  Laws,  upon  pen- 
alty of  twenty  shillings  for  each  neglect  therein." 

"  It  being  one  chiefe  project  of  that  ould  deluder,  Sathan,  to  keepe 
Mass.  Coi.  Rec-  men  from  the  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures,  as  in  former 
203,8>Nov.2'iii  times  by  keeping  them  in  an  unknowne  tongue,  so  in 
these  latter  times  by  perswading  from  the  use  of  tongues, 
that  so  at  least  the  true  sence  and  meaning  of  the  originall  might  be 
clouded  by  false  glosses  of  saint  seeming  deceivers,  that  learning  may 
not  be  buried  in  the  grave  of  our  fathers  in  the  church  and  common- 
wealth, the  Lord  assisting  our  endeavors 

"It  is  therefore  ordered,  that  every  township  in  this  jurisdiction, 
after  the  Lord  hath  increased  them  to  the  number  of  50  householders, 
shall  then  forthwith  appoint  one  within  their  towne  to  teach  all  chil- 
dren as  shall  resort  to  him  to  write  and  read,  whose  wages  shall  be 
paid  either  by  the  parents  or  masters  of  such  children,  or  by  the 
inhabitants  in  generall,  by  way  of  supply,  as  the  major  part  of  those 
that  order  the  prudentials  of  the  towne  shall  appoint ;  provided  those 
that  send  their  children  be  not  oppressed  by  paying  much  more  than 
they  can  have  them  taught  in  other  townes  ; — And  it  is  further  ordered 
that  where  any  towne  shall  increase  to  the  number  of  100  families  or 
householders  they  shall  set  up  a  grammar  schoole,  the  master  thereof 
being  able  to  instruct  youth  so  farr  as  they  may  be  fited  for  the  uni- 
versitj" ;  provided  that  if  any  towue  neglect  the  performance  hereof 
above  one  yeare,  every  such  towne  shall  pay  5s  to  the  next  schoole  till 
they  shall  perform  this  order." 


LAWS    RELATING    TO    PUBLIC    SCHOOLS. 


CONSTITUTION    OF    MASSACHUSETTS. 
Provisions  Relating  to  Schools. 

[Chap.  5,  Sect.  2.] 

"Wisdom,  and  knowledge,  as  well  as  virtue,  diffused  generally  among 
the  body  of  the  people,  being  necessary  for  the  preser- 
vation  of  their  rights  and  liberties  ;  and  as  these  depend 
on  spreading  the  opportunities  and  advantages  of  edu-  future  periods, 
cation  in  the  various  parts  of  the  country,  and  among  the  different 
orders  of  the  people,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  legislatures  and  magis- 
trates, in  all  future  periods  of  this  Commonwealth,  to  cherish  the 
interests  of  literature  and  the  sciences,  and  all  seminaries  of  them ; 
especially  the  university  at  Cambridge,  public  schools  and  grammar 
schools  in  the  towns ;  to  encourage  private  societies  and  public  insti- 
tutions, rewards  and  immunities,  for  the  promotion  of  agriculture, 
arts,  sciences,  commerce,  trades,  manufactures,  and  a  natural  history 
of  the  country  ;  to  countenance  and  inculcate  the  principles  of  human- 
ity  and  general  benevolence,  public  and  private  charity,  industry  and 
frugality,  honest3*  and  punctuality  in  their  dealings ;  sincerity,  good 
humor,  and  all  social  affections,  and  generous  sentiments  among  the 
people." 

[Amendments,  Art.  18.] 

"  ART.  XVIII.  All  moneys  raised  by  taxation  in  the  towns  and 
cities  for  the  support  of  public  schools,  and  all  moneys  school  money 
which  may  be  appropriated  by  the  State  for  the  support  jSw^fo^  seci 
of  common  schools,  shall  be  applied  to,  and  expended  in,  tarian  schools- 
no  other  schools  than  those  which  are  conducted  according  to  law, 
under  the  order  and  superintendence  of  the  authorities  of  the  town  or 
city  in  which  the  money  is  to  be  expended ;  and  such  moneys  shall 
never  be  appropriated  to  any  religious  sect  for  the  maintenance  exclu- 
sively of  its  own  school." 

The  foregoing  amendment  has  received  a  judicial  construc- 
tion by  the  supreme  court,  so  important  in  its  bearings  upon 
questions  constantly  arising,  that  I  give,  in  addition  to  the 
reporter's  abstract  of  the  opinion  of  the  court,  the  principal 
facts  of  the  case  presented  for  adjudication.  (See  Jenkins  and 
others  v.  Inhabitants  of  Andover  and  others,  103  Mass.  Rep., 
p.  94.) 

The  facts  are  in  brief  as  follows  : — Benjamin  H.  Punchard, 

an  inhabitant  of  Andover,  made  the  following  bequest  in  his 

last  will:     "The  residue  of  my  property,  not  exceeding  fifty 

thousand  dollars,  I  give  and  bequeath  to  the  town  of  Andover, 

2 


6  LAWS    RELATING    TO   PUBLIC    SCHOOLS. 

for  the  purpose  of  founding  a,  free  school,  forty  thousand  dol- 
lars for  a  permanent  fund  for  the  support  of  said  school,  and 
ten  thousand  dollars  for  the  necessary  buildings,  etc. 
Said  school  shall  be  under  the  direction  of  eight  trustees,  of 
whom  the  rector  of  Christ  Church  to  be  one,  also  the  minis- 
ters of  the  South  Parish  and  West  Parish  to  be  members  also, 
the  remaining  five  to  be  chosen  by  the  inhabitants  of  Andover 
in  town  meeting,  to  serve  for  three  years,  two  of  whom  to  be 
taken  from  Christ  Church  Parish,  two  from  the  South  Parish 
Society,  and  one  from  the  West  Parish  Society ;  said  school 
to  be  free  for  all  youths  resident  in  Andover,  under  the  restric- 
tions of  the  trustees  as  to  age  and  qualifications ;  no  sectarian 
influence  to  be  used  in  the  school,  the  Bible  to  be  in  daily  use, 
and  the  Lord's  prayer,  in  which  the  pupils  shall  join  audibly 
with  the  teacher  in  the  morning  at  the  opening ;  the  said  trus- 
tees also  to  determine  and  decide  whether  the  school  shall  be 
for  males  only,  or  lor  the  benefit  of  both  sexes  ;  said  school  to 
be  located  in  the  South  Parish  of  Andover,  and  to  be  free  to  all 
the  parishes  equally."  The  will  was  proved  in  1850.  The 
persons  designated  as  trustees  were  incorporated  in  1851, 
and  the  school  established.  The  town  was  released  from  its 
obligations  to  maintain  a  High  School,  the  purpose  being  that 
the  Punchard  Free  School  should  be  to  the  people  a  High  School 
such  as  the  statutes  required. 

The  school-house  was  burned,  and  by  vote  in  town  meeting, 
the  inhabitants  procured  the  enactment  of  the  following  :— 

[Chap.  396,  Laws,  1869.] 

USECT.  1.  The  town  of  Andover  is  hereby  authorized  to  raise  by 
taxation  and  to  appropriate  a  sum  not  exceeding  twenty-five  thousand 
dollars,  to  aid  the  trustees  of  the  Punchard  Free  School  in  erecting 
and  furnishing  a  suitable  edifice  to  be  used  and  occupied  in  place  of  a 
high  school  for  said  town  ;  also,  to  raise  and  appropriate  annualty,  a 
sum  not  exceeding  two  thousand  dollars,  in  any  one  year  to  aid  in 
defraying  the  annual  expenses  of  said  Punchard  Free  School. 

"  SECT.  2.  Said  town  shall  hereafter  have  and  exercise  a  perpetual 
right  to  choose  a  majority  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  said  school,  and 
said  school  shall  be  under  the  order  and  superintendence  of  said 
trustees,  and  they  shall  perform  all  the  duties  and  exercise  all  the 
powers  in  relation  to  said  Punchard  Free  School,  now  performed  and 
exercised  by  the  general  school  committee  in  relation  to  the  public 
schools  of  said  town. 


LAWS    RELATIXG    TO    PUBLIC    SCHOOLS.  7 

"SECT.  3.  Said Pimchard  Free  School  shall  at  all  reasonable  times 
be  open  to  the  inspection  and  examination  of  the  general  school  com- 
mittee of  said  town,  that  they  may  ascertain  its  condition  and  manage- 
ment, and  they  shall  include  a  report  thereof  in  their  annual  report  to 
the  town.  They  shall  also  have  the  right  to  recommend  for  admission 
to  said  school  such  pupils  of  the  public  schools  as  they  may  deem 
qualified  therefor." 

Under  the  authority  granted  by  this  Act,  at  a  town  meeting 
July  6,  1869,  the  following  votes  were  passed  : — 

44  Voted,  That  it  is  expedient  that  the  town  aid  in  rebuilding  the 
Punchard  Free  School. 

44  Voted,  That  the  town  aid  the  trustees  of  the  Punchard  Free  School 
in  rebuilding  their  school-house  recently  destroyed  by  fire,  to  an 
amount  not  exceeding  the  sum  of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars,  said 
aid  to  be  furnished  said  trustees  under  the  direction  of  a  committee  of 
five  to  be  appointed  by  the  selectmen,  who  shall  see  that  the  rights  of 
the  town  in  the  property  of  said  house  be  sufficiently  secured. 

44  Voted,  That  the  money  hereby  appropriated  be  raised  by  loan, 
and  paid  in  instalments  by  taxation  of  not  more  than  five  thousand 
dollars  and  the  interest  in  any  one  year,  unless  the  town  shall  other- 
wise order." 

In  an  action  brought  by  certain  parties  against  the  inhabitants 
of  Andover  and  others  for  an  injunction  to  restrain  from  doing 
or  attempting  to  do  anything  under  or  by  virtue  of  the  above 
votes,  it  was  decided  by  the  supreme  court  that — 

u  A  town  has  no  authority  independently  of  statute  law  ;  nor,  under 
the  eighteenth  article  of  amendment  of  the  Constitution  of  the  Com- 
monwealth, can  take  authority  by  statute,  to  raise  by  taxation  and 
appropriate  money  to  support  a  school,  as  a  public  school,  which  is 
founded  by  a  charitable  bequest  that  vests  the  order  and  superintend- 
ence of  it  in  trustees,  who,  though  a  majority  of  them  are  to  be  chosen 
by  the  inhabitants  of  the  town,  yet  are  limited  to  be  members  of  cer- 
tain religious  societies. 

44  The  statute  of  1869,  chapter  396  is  unconstitutional  and  invalid, 
so  far  as  it  purports  to  authorize  the  town  of  Andover  to  raise  by  tax- 
ation and  appropriate  money  to  aid  the  trustees  of  the  Punchard  Free 
School  to  build  a  school-house  4  to  be  used  and  occupied  in  place  of  a 
high  school  for  said  town,'  and  to  aid  in  defraying  the  annual  expenses 
of  said  school." 

The  injunction  was  made  perpetual. 


LAWS    RELATING    TO    PUBLIC    SCHOOLS.  [CHAP.  34. 


LAWS    RELATING    TO    PUBLIC    SCHOOLS. 

Of  Public  Instruction  and  Regulations  Respecting  Children. 
CHAPTER  34.— Of  the  Board  of  Education. 
CHAPTER  35. — Of  Teachers'  Institutes  and  Associations. 
CHAPTER  36.— Of  the  School  Funds. 
CHAPTER  37. — Of  State  Scholarships. 
CHAPTER  38.— Of  the  Public  Schools. 
CHAPTER  39.— Of  School  Districts. 
CHAPTER  40. — Of  School  Registers  and  Returns. 
CHAPTER  41. — Of  the  Attendance  of  Children  in  the  Schools. 
CHAPTER  42. — Of  the  Employment  of  Children  and  Regulations  respecting 
them. 


CHAPTER  34.— Of  the 

SECTION 

1.  Board  of  education,  how  organized;  term 
of  office;  vacancies. 

2.  May  take  grants,  devises,  etc.,  in  trust  for 
educational  purposes ;  to  pay  all  moneys 
to  treasurer. 

3.  Shall  prescribe  form  of  school  registers, 
and  of  blanks  for  returns;  transmit  ab- 
stract of  returns,  and  report  to  legislature. 

4.  May  appoint  secretary,  -who  shall  make 
abstracts,  collect' and  diffuse  information, 
etc. 

5.  Secretary    shall    suggest   improvements, 


Board  of  Education. 

SECTION 

visit  different  places,   collect    books,   re- 
ceive reports,  &c. 

6.  Secretary    shall    give    notice    and  attend 
meetings,  and  collect  information,  etc. 

7.  Shall   send  blank  forms   and   reports    to 
clerks  of  towns  and  cities. 

8.  Compensation  of  secretary,  and  expenses 
of  office. 

9.  Board  may   appoint  agents  to   make  in- 
quiry, etc. 

10.  Expenses  of  board,  how  paid. 

11.  Assistant  state  librarian  may  act  as  clerk. 


Board  of  edu- 
cation, how  or- 
ganized ;  term 
of  members  ; 
vacancies. 


SECT.  1.  The  board  of  education  shall  consist  of  the  governor  and 
lieutenant-governor,  and  eight  persons  appointed  by  the 
governor  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  council, 
each  to  hold  office  eight  years  from  the  time  of  his 
appointment,  one  retiring  each  year  in  the  order  of 
appointment;  and  the  governor,  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the 
council,  shall  fill  all  vacancies  in  the  board  which  may  occur  from 
death,  resignation,  or  otherwise. 

SECT.  2.  The  board  may  take  and  hold  to  it  and  its  successors,  in 
trust  for  the  Commonwealth,  any  grant  or  devise  of 
lands,  and  any  donation  or  bequest  of  money  or  other 
personal  property,  made  to  it*  for  educational  purposes  ; 
and  shall  forthwith  pay  over  to  the  treasurer  of  the 
Commonwealth,  for  safe  keeping  and  investment,  all 
mone}*  and  other  personal  property  so  received.  The  treasurer  shall 
from  time  to  time  invest  all  such  money  in  the  name  of  the  Common- 
wealth, and  shall  pay  to  the  board,  on  the  warrant  of  the  governor, 
the  income  or  principal  thereof,  as  it  shall  from  time  to  time  require ; 
but  no  disposition  shall  be  made  of  an}'  devise,  donation,  or  bequest, 
inconsistent  with  the  conditions  or  terms  thereof.  For  the  faithful 


May     take 
grants,  etc.,  in 
trust   for  edu- 
cational    pur- 
poses, etc. 
Duty  of  treas- 
urer. 


CHAT.  34.]  LAWS    RELATING    TO    PUBLIC    SCHOOLS.  9 

management  of  all  property  so  received  by  the  treasurer  he  shall  be 
responsible  upon  his  bond  to  the  Commonwealth,  as  for  other  funds 
received  by  him  in  his  official  capacity. 

SECT.  3.     The  board  shall  prescribe  the  form  of  registers  to  be  kept 
in  the  schools,  and  the  form  of  the  blanks  and  inquiries 

Shall  prescribe 

for  the  returns  to  be  made  by  school  committees  ;  shall  form  of  school 
annually  on  or  before  the  third  Wednesday  of  January  blanks  for  re. 

turns,  etc. 

lay  before  the  legislature  an  annual  report  containing  a 
printed  abstract  of  said  returns,  and  a  detailed  report  of  all  the  doings 
of  the  board,  with  such  observations  upon  the  condition  and  efficiency 
of  the  system  of  popular  education,  and  such  suggestions  as  to  the 
most  practical  means  of  improving  and  extending  it,  as  the  experience 
and  reflection  of  the  board  dictate. 

SECT.  4.  The  board  may  appoint  its  own  secretary,  who,  under 
its  direction,  shall  make  the  abstract  of  school  returns  May  appoint 
required  by  section  three  ;  collect  information  respecting  JSfmak'e'Sji 
the  condition  and  efficiency  of  the  public  schools  and  Stract8» etc- 
other  means  of  popular  education  ;  and  diffuse  as  widely  as  possible 
throughout  the  Commonwealth  information  of  the  best  system  of 
studies  and  method  of  instruction  for  the  young,  that  the  best  educa- 
tion which  public  schools  can  be  made  to  impart  may  be  secured  to  all 
children  who  depend  upon  them  for  instruction. 

SECT.  5.  The  secretary  shall  suggest  to  the  board  and  to  the 
legislature,  improvements  in  the  present  system  of  public  secretary  shall 
schools ;  visit,  as  often  as  his  other  duties  will  permit,  8"Sfementsim 
different  parts  of  the  Commonwealth  for  the  purpose  of  etc< 
arousing  and  guiding  public  sentiment  in  relation  to  the  practical 
interests  of  education ;  collect  in  his  office  such  school-books,  appa- 
ratus, maps  and  charts,  as  can  be  obtained  without  expense-  to  the 
Commonwealth ;  receive  and  arrange  in  his  office  the  reports  and  re- 
turns of  the  school  committees  ;  and  receive,  preserve,  or  distribute, 
the  state  documents  in  relation  to  the  public  school  system. 

SECT.  6.     He  shall,  under  the  direction  of  the  board,  give  sufficient 
notice  of,  and  attend  such  meetings  of  teachers  of  public 

Shall  give  no- 

schools,  members  of  the  school  committees  of  the  sev-      tice  and  attend 

meetings,    etc. 

eral  towns,  and  friends  of  education   generally   in   any 
count}',  as  may  voluntarily  assemble  at  the  time  and  place  designated 
by  the  board  ;  and  shall  at  such  meetings  devote  himself  to  the  object 
of  collecting  information  of  the  condition  of  the  public  schools  of  such 
county,  of  the  fulfilment  of  the  duties  of  their  office  by  members  of  the 
school  committees  of  all  the  towns  and  cities,  and  of  the  circumstances 
of  the  several  school  districts  in  regard  to  teachers,  pupils,  books, 
apparatus,  and  methods  of  education,  to  enable  him  to  furnish  all  infor- 
mation desired  for  the  report  of  the  board  required  in  section  three. 
2 


10  LAWS    RELATING    TO    PUBLIC    SCHOOLS.  [CHAP.  34. 

SECT.  7.     He  shall  send  the  blank  forms  of   inquiry,  the   school 
Secretary  shall      registers,  the  annual  reports  of  the  board,  and  his   own 
Kpor^/tSt^wn      annual  report,  to  the  clerks  of  the  several  towns  and 
cities  as  soon  as  may  be  after  they  are  ready  for  distri- 
bution. 

SECT.  8.     [He  shall  receive  an  annual  salary  of  three  thousand  dol- 
lars, and  also  the  sum  of  four  hundred  dollars  in  full 

Compensation 

of    secretary,      compensation  for  travelling  expenses  to  be  paid  out  of 

and     expenses   ' 

of  office.  the  moiety  of  the  school  fund  applicable  to  educational 

1867,  276. 

purposes]  and  all  postages  and  other  necessary  expenses 
arising  in  his  office,  shall  be  paid  out  of  the  treasury  in  the  same  man- 
ner as  those  of  the  different  departments  of  the  government. 

SECT.  9.  The  board  may  appoint  one  or  more  suitable  agents  to 
Board  may  ap-  visit  the  several  towns  and  cities  for  the  purpose  of  in- 
Keainqnui?r^  quiring  into  the  condition  of  the  schools,  conferring  with 

teachers  and  committees,  lecturing  upon  subjects  con- 
nected with  education,  and  in  general  of  giving  and  receiving  informa- 
tion upon  subjects  connected  with  education,  in  the  same  manner  as 
the  secretary  might  do  if  he  were  present. 

SECT.   10.     The  incidental  expenses  of  the  board,  and  the  expenses 

of  the  members  thereof  incurred  in  the  discharge  of  their 
board"868  how  official  duties,  shall  be  paid  out  of  the  treasury,  their 

accounts  being  first  audited  and  allowed. 

SECT.  11.  The  assistant  librarian  of  the  state  library  shall  act 
cierk.  when  necessary  as  clerk  of  the  board. 

(SECT.  1.) 

["As  the  Board  of  Education  is  constituted,"  says  Secretary 
Boutwell  in  the  Twenty-fourth  Annual  Report,  '*  it  is  at  once 
conservative  and  progressive.  The  governor  and  lieutenant- 
governor  are  annually  elected,  and  they  are  the  immediate 
representatives  of  popular  sentiment.  The  eight  permanent 
members  aro  appointed  by  the  governor,  with  the  consent  of 
the  council,  anxl  they  are  usually  selected  for  their  ability,  integ- 
rity and  interest  in  the  subject  of  education..  They  also  repre- 
sent the  popular  sentiment,  but  in  such  a  manner  that  changes 
in  public  opinion  must  he  well  considered  before  a  change  of 
policy  can  be  secured.  On  the  one  hand,  the  Board  of  Educa- 
tion can  never  become  indifferent  to  the  public  judgment,  nor, 
on  the  other  hand,  is  it  liable  to  he  suddenly  affected  by  a 
movement  which  is  temporary  in  its  character.  As  in  no  other 
State  or  country  have  the  facilities  for  public  education  been  so 


CHAP.  34.]  LAWS    RELATING    TO    PUBLIC    SCHOOLS. 


11 


good  during  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  as  in  Massachusetts, 
so  in  no  other  State  or  country  has  there  existed  a  department 
of  the  government,  charged  with  the  duty  of  superintending 
public  schools,  that  combined  in  so  high  a  degree  the  statesman- 
like qualities  of  power,  conservation  and  progress."] 

[The  following  is  a  complete  list  of  the  members  of  the  Board 
from  its  organization  to  the  present  time.  The  persons  are 
named  in  the  order  of  their  appointment,  or  connection  with 
the  Board,  and  they  represent  the  various  religious  denomina- 
tions, learned  professions,  and  political  parties  : — ] 


Names  of  Members  of  the  Board  since  its  Establishment  in  1837. 


James  G.  Carter. 
Emerson  Davis. 
Edmund  Dwight. 
Horace  Mann. 
Edward  A.  Newton. 
Robert  Rantoul,  Jr. 
Thomas  Robbins. 
Jared  Sparks. 

Originally  appointed  in  1837. 

George  Putnam. 
Charles  Hudson. 
George  N.  Briggs. 
William  G.  Bates. 
John  W.  James. 
Elisha  Bartlett. 
Heman  Humphrey. 
Stephen  C.  Phillips. 
Barnas  Sears. 


Edwin  H.  Chapin. 
Henry  B.  Hooker. 
Stephen  P.  Webb. 
Thomas  Kinnicutt. 
Joseph  W.  Ingraham. 
John  A.  Bolles. 
George  B.  Emerson. 
Charles  K.  True. 
Mark  Hopkins. 
Edward  Otheman. 
Isaac  Davis. 
Alexander  H.  Vinton. 
George  S.  Boutwell. 
Henry  Wheatland. 
Hosea  Ballou. 
Ariel  Parish. 
Cornelius  C.  Felton. 
Alonzo  H.  Quint. 
William  A.  Stearns. 


Russell  Tomlinson. 
Erastus  O.  Haven. 
David  H.  Mason. 
John  P.  Marshall. 
Emory  Washburn. 
Abner  J.  Phipps. 
James  Freeman  Clarke. 
William  Rice. 
John  D.  Philbrick. 
Samuel  T.  Seelye.  \ 
George  D.  Wilde. ' 
Gardiner  G.  Hubbard. 
Alonzo  A.  Miner. 
Henry  Chapin. 
Constantino  C.  Esty. 
Edward  B.  Gillett. 
Phillips  Brooks. 
Christopher  C.  Hussey. 


Governors. 
Edward  Everett. 
Marcus  Morton. 
John  Davis. 
George  N.  Briggs. 
George  S.  Boutwell. 
John  H.  Clifford. 
Emory  Washburn. 
Henry  J.  Gardner. 
Nathaniel  P.  Banks. 
John  A.  Andrew. 


Ex  OFFICIIS. 

Alexander  H  Bullock 
William  Claflin 
William  B.  Washburn. 
William  Gaston. 

Lieutenant-  Governors. 
George  Hull. 
Henry  H.  Childs. 
John  Reed. 
Henry  W.  Cushrnan. 
Elisha  Huntington. 


William  C.  Plunkett. 
Simon  Brown. 
Henry  W.  Benchley. 
Eliphalet  Trask. 
John  Z.  Goodrich. 
John  Nesmith 
Joel  Hay  den. 
William  Claflin, 
.Joseph  Tucker 
Thomas  Talbot. 
Horatio  G.  Knight. 


12  LAWS    RELATING    TO    PUBLIC    SCHOOLS.  [CHAP.  34. 

(SECT.  3.) 

[The  Board  of  Education  have  annually  submitted  to  the 
legislature  a  report  of  their  doings  and  of  the  condition  of  the 
schools  in  the  State.  It  has  contained  extracts  from  the  reports 
of  the  committees  of  the  several  cities  and  towns,  and  an 
abstract  of  the  annual  returns.  These  returns  have  given  the 
valuation  and  population  of  each  town,  the  appropriations  for 
schools,  the  wages  of  teachers,  the  attendance  of  children  ;  and, 
in  fine,  every  needed  fact  for  the  information  of  the  legislature 
and  the  public.  By  the  aid  of  these  abstracts  it  is  easy  for  any 
person  to  form  an  accurate  opinion  concerning  the  schools  of 
the  Commonwealth.  Graduated  tables  are  also  prepared,  which 
show  the  relative  standing  of  the  several  municipalities,  and 
these  tables  have  been  used  with  wonderful  power  to  bring  up 
the  indifferent  towns  to  the  proper  performance  of  their  duty. 
The  school  returns  first  required  by  law  in  1826  (chap.  143, 
§  8),  and  especially  the  establishment  of  the  school  fund  in 
1834,  had  wrought  a  favorable  change,  but  the  reformation  did 
not  really  commence  until  the  establishment  of  the  Board  of 
Education.  There  was  not  a  ready  acquiescence  in  the  last 
measure,  and  it  was  not  adopted  without  serious  opposition. 
But  the  establishment  of  the  school  fund  and  the  organization 
of  the  Board  of  Education  have  led  to  a  complete  revolution  in 
the  educational  condition  of  the  State.  It  is  not  easy  to  realize 
the  nature  and  extent  of  the  changes  that  have  taken  place. 
Previous  to  1834,  many  towns  entirely  neglected  to  institute 
systematic  superintendence  of  the  schools  ;  and  it  is  not  known 
that  a  school  committee's  report  had  been  read  in  open  town 
meeting  before  the  year  1830.  Concord  claims  the  honor  of 
leading  in  this  custom.] 

(SECT.  4.) 

[Under  the  authority  to  appoint  a  Secretary,  the  Board  of 
Education  elected  Horace  Mann,  who  continued  in  office  twelve 
years,  and  prepared  the  first  twelve  annual  reports.  His  suc- 
cessor, Barnas  Sears,  held  office  seven  years,  and  prepared  the 
annual  reports  from  the  thirteenth  to  the  nineteenth,  inclusive. 
The  twentieth,  twenty-first,  twenty-second  and  twenty-third 
reports  were  prepared  by  George  S.  Bout  well,  the  third  Secre- 


CHAP.  35.]          LAWS   RELATING   TO   PUBLIC    SCHOOLS.  13 

tary  of  the  Board.]     The  subsequent  volumes  have  been  pre- 
pared by  the  present  Secretary. 

(SECT.  9.) 

[The  authority  conferred  by  the  ninth  section  was  first  given 
to  the  Board  of  Education  in  1851,  and  twice  renewed,  in  1853 
and  1857.  The  commissioners  and  the  legislature  charged  with 
the  revision  of  the  General  Statutes,  saw  fit  to  give  to  these 
transitory  enactments  the  form  of  permanent  law. 

The  nature  of  the  duties  assigned  to  the  agents,  and  the  man- 
ner of  their  performance,  were  fully  set  forth  by  Dr.  Sears,  in 
the  Fourteenth,  Sixteenth  and  Eighteenth  Annual  Reports  of 
the  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Education,  and  by  Mr.  Bout  well 
in  the  Twentieth  Annual  Report. 

The  reasons  for  the  continuance  of  the  agency  all  remain  in 
force,  and  the  experience  of  the  entire  period  demonstrates  the 
utility  of  the  work  performed.  The  plan  of  labor  has  from  time 
to  time  been  changed.  Of  late  years  it  has  been  the  custom 
for  the  agents  to  spend  a  day  in  each  town  visited.  The  fore- 
noon, when  practicable,  is  devoted  to  an  examination  of  schools  ; 
in  the  afternoon  the  agent  holds  a  meeting,  upon  the  plan  of  a 
teachers'  institute,  for  the  purpose  of  conference  with  teachers 
and  committees,  and  the  presentation  and  illustration  of  meth- 
ods of  instruction ;  and  in  the  evening,  the  agent  delivers  a 
lecture  upon  the  general  subject  of  education. 

Its  importance  is  due  to  the  fact  that  our  system  of  education 
is  a  popular  one,  and  that  our  schools  will,  in  the  main,  repre- 
sent the  popular  ideas.  Hence  it  is  important  to  elevate  the 
public  sentiment  to  that  degree  that  every  improved  method  of 
teaching  will  be  readily  received.  While  our  Normal  Schools, 
Teachers'  Institutes,  teachers'  associations,  and  the  educational 
press  are  furnishing  accomplished  and  progressive  teachers,  and 
presenting  better  ideas  of  the  work,  it  is  of  the  first  importance 
to  prepare  the  public  mind  to  welcome  and  appreciate  the  labors 
of  those  who  are  able  to  do  best.] 

CHAPTER  35. —  Of  Teachers'  Institutes  and  Associations. 

SECTION  j  SECTION 

1.  Board  of  education  to  arrange  for  meeting         3.  Board  to  regulate  length  of  session  and 
of  teachers'  institutes.  expense. 

2.  Expenses  of,  how  paid. 


14  LAWS   RELATING   TO   PUBLIC    SCHOOLS.  [CHAP.  35. 

SECT.  1.     When  the  board  of  education  is  satisfied  that  fifty  teach- 
ers of  public  schools  desire  to  unite  in  forming  a  teach- 
stitutes,  meet-      ers*  institute,  it  shall,  by  a  committee  of  its  bod}T,  or  by 
its  secretary,  or,  in  case  of  his  inability,  by  such  person 
as  it  may  delegate,  appoint  and  give  notice  of  a  time  and  place  for 
such  meeting,  and  make  suitable  arrangements  therefor. 

SECT.  2.     To  defray  the  necessary  expenses  and  charges,  and  prp- 

en        of      cure  teachers  and  lecturers  'for  such  institutes,  the  gov- 

how  paid.  ernor  may  draw  his  warrant   upon  the  treasurer  for  a 

Rcsifves  §i85'o'  sum  not  excee(^ng  [four]  thousand  dollars  per  annum* 
to  be  taken  from  that  portion  of  the  income  of  the  school 
fund  not  apportioned  for  distribution  to  the  several 

cities  and  towns  for  the  support  of  public  schools. 

SECT.  3.     The  board  may  determine  the  length  of  time  during  which 
a  teachers'  institute  shall  remain  in  session,  and  what 

.Length  of,  and 

expense.  portion,  not  exceeding  three  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  of 

the  sum  provided  for  in  the  preceding  section  shall  be  appropriated 
to  meet  the  expenses  of  any  such  institute  ;  and  the  board,  its  secre- 
tary, or  any  person  by  it  duly  appointed,  may  draw  upon  the  treas- 
urer therefor. 

[Chap.  58,  1864,  substituted  for  Sections  4  and  5.] 

[SECT.  1.  When  a  county  association  of  teachers  and  others,  holds 

When    meet-  an  annusA  meeting  of  not  less  than  two  days,  for  the 

countarea8Boc1'  exPress  purpose   of  promoting  the   interests  of  public 

ations   to  re.  schools,  it  shall  receive   twenty-five    dollars   from  the 

ceive     $25     a  J 

year.  Commonwealth. 

SECT.  2.  Upon  the  certificate,  under  oath,  of  the  president  and  see- 
To  be  paid  on  retary  of  such  association  to  the  governor,  that  a  meet- 
certificate,  etc.  jng  j]ag  -^een  held  jn  accordance  with  the  provisions 
of  the  preceding  section,  he  shall  draw  his  warrant  in  favor  of  such 
association,  for  the  sum  aforesaid. 

SECT.  3.  The  fourth  and  fifth  sections  of  the  thirty-fifth  chapter 
Repeal.  of  the  General  Statutes  are  hereby  repealed.] 

(SECTIONS  1,  2  and  3.) 

[The  Act  to  establish  Teachers'  Institutes  was  passed  in  1846. 
(Stat.  1846,  chap.  19.)  But  four  institutes  were  held  in  1845. 

These  were  voluntary  meetings,  under  the  direction  of  Mr. 
Mann.  , 

The  Act  of  1846  authorized  the  Board  of  Education  to  appoint 
an  institute  whenever  assurance  should  be  given  that  not  less 
than  seventy  teachers  of  Common  Schools  desired  to  assemble, 
and  to  remain  in  session  for  a  period  not  less  than  ten  days. 


CHAP.  35.]  LAWS    RELATING   TO    PUBLIC    SCHOOLS.  15 

The  appropriation  was  twenty-five  hundred  dollars  per  annum, 
and  two  hundred  dollars  for  each  institute.  Since  1846,  appro- 
priations have  annually  been  made  by  our  legislature  for  the 
support  of  Teachers'  Institutes,  varying  in  the  amount  appro- 
priated, and  in  some  of  the  restrictions  and  limitations  of  the 
original  Act  establishing  them.  The  essential  features  of  the 
existing  Act  arc :  There  must  be  reason  to  expect  an  attend- 
ance of  at  least  fifty  teachers  of  Public  Schools,  to  justify  the 
appointment  of  a  time  and  place  for  holding  an  institute ;  an 
amount  not  exceeding  four  thousand  dollars  may  be  used  to 
defray  the  necessary  expen  es  and  charges,  and  procure  teach- 
ers and  lecturers  for  the  institu  es,  and  of  this  sum,  a  portion, 
not  exceeding  three  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  may  be  used  for 
each  institute. 

It  seems  proper  to  call  the  attention  of  school  committees  to 
the  importance  of  the  institute  to  those  teachers  who  are  in 
their  service.  Difficulties  have  arisen  occasionally,  between 
teachers  and  committees  in  regard  to  time  used  by  the  former 
in  attendance  upon  the  sessions  of  the  institute.  The  first  obli- 
gation is  no  doubt  upon  the  teachers  who  are  to  qualify  them- 
selves for  the  skilful  performance  of  their  labors  ;  but  it  is  also 
true  that  a  city  or  town  that  is  enjoying  the  services  of  compe- 
tent teachers,  who  are  employed  by  the  year,  can  well  afford 
to  allow  such  persons  to  spend  a  week  in  the  institute,  without 
pecuniary  loss  to  themselves. 

In  the  face  of  considerable  honest  criticism,  the  institute  has 
thus  far  sought  to  suggest  the  best  means  of  teaching  the 
elements  of  the  principal  branches  studied  in  the  Common 
Schools.  In  consequence  of  the  improved  qualifications  of 
teachers  generally,  it  may  not  be  necessary  to  pursue  this 
policy  rigidly  hereafter.  It  cannot,  however,  be  entirely 
abandoned,  and  the  public  may  ever  abide  in  the  belief  that  he 
who  can  teach  the  elements  in  a  proper  manner,  may  easily 
become  a  teacher  in  all  science  and  literature.] 

As  a  matter  of  interest,  and  for  purposes  of  reference,  the 
following  alphabetical  list  of  the  155  different  towns,  where  242 
institutes  have  been  held  in  our  State  since  they  were  com- 
menced, in  1845,  with  the  year  of  each  session,  is  here  pre- 
sented, from  the  Report  of  the  General  Agent  for  1874 : — 


16 


LAWS    RELATING    TO   PUBLIC    SCHOOLS.  [CHAP.  35. 


Acton,  1861. 

Adams,  1848,  1855,  1858. 

Adams,  North,  1869. 

Amherst,  1852. 

Amesbury  Mills,  1863. 

Andover,  1846, 1866. 

Ashburnham,  1855. 

Athol,  1848,  1854,  1868. 

Attleboro',  1849,  1851, 1862, 1873. 

Ayer,  1871. 

Barnstable,  1851,  1857, 1872. 

Barnstable  (Hyannis),  1849, 1856. 

Barre,  1854, 1872. 

Becket,  1865. 

Bedford,  1857. 

Belchertown,  1868. 

Bernardston,  1858,  1872. 

Beverly,  1870. 

Billerica,  1859, 1868. 

Blackstone,  1851, 1870. 

Boston,  1852. 

Brewster,  1850, 1855. 

Bridgewater,  1845, 1855, 1863. 

Brimfield,  1860. 

Brookfield,  1857. 

Cambridge,  1852. 

Charlemont,  1847, 1870. 

Charlestown,  1852. 

Chatham,  1845, 1860. 

Chelsea,  1855. 

Cheshire,  1874. 

Chester,  1872. 

Chicopee,  1852. 

Clinton,  1866. 

Cohasset,  1874. 

Concord,  1847. 

Conway,  1853,  1864. 

Cummington,  1862, 1873. 

Dana,  North,  1870. 

Dartmouth,  South,  1864. 

Dedham,  1859. 

Deerfield,  1852. 

Dennis,  East,  1864. 

Dennis,  South,  1867. 

Dudley,  1865. 

Easthampton,  1863. 

Easton,  North,  1867. 

Edgartown,  1848,  1861. 

Fairhaven,  1858. 


Fall  River,  1852, 1866 
Falmouth,  1850,  1861,  1868. 
Fitchburg,  1845, 1850,  1862. 
Foxboro', 1857. 
Framingham,  1850, 1857. 
Franklin,  1854. 
Gardner,  South,  1858. 
Gloucester,  1872. 
Grafton,  1846. 

Great  Barrington,  1847,  1859. 
Greenfield,  1849,  1863. 
Groton,  1849, 1856. 
Hadley,  1850,  1864. 
Hadley,  South,  1867. 
Hard  wick,  1859. 
Harwich,  1846. 
Hatfield,  1865, 1873. 
Haverhill,  1853,  1858, 1869. 
Hingham,  1868. 
Hinsdale,  1869. 
Holliston,  1852. 
Holmes'  Hole,  1869. 
Holyoke,  1862. 
Hopkinton,  1854. 
Hubbardston,  1849, 1860. 
Ipswich,  1874. 
Kingston,  1856. 
Lancaster,  1854. 
Lawrence,  1851, 1862. 
Lee,  1846, 1854, 1864. 
Leicester,  1863. 
Lenox,  1850. 

Leominster,  1852,  1857,  1874. 
Littleton,  1855. 
Longmeadow,  1863. 
Lowell,  1852,  1867. 
Lunenburg,  1853. 
Maiden,  1853. 
Mansfield,  1854. 
Marlboro',  1856,  1867,  1871. 
Maynard,  1873. 
Medway,  1850,  1871. 
Medway,  West,  1863. 
Middleboro',  1853. 
Milford,  1850,  1858,  1861. 
Millbury,  1853. 
Monson,  1850,  1870. 
Montague,  1855,  1870. 
Nantucket,  1853,  1874. 


CHAP.  36.]          LAWS    RELATING   TO   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS. 


17 


Natick,  1853,  1864,  1870. 

Needham,  1867. 

New  Bedford,  1853. 

Newburyport,  1854. 

New  Marlboro',  1866. 

Newton,  1851, 1864. 

New  Salem,  1846,  1873. 

Northampton,  1857,  1869. 

Northborough,  1851,  1860. 

North  Bridge  water,  1868. 

North  Brookfield,  1852,  1859. 

Northfield,  1874. 

Norton,  1857. 

Orange,  1866. 

Orleans,  1853,  1861. 

Oxford,  1853. 

Pepperell,  1850,  1866. 

Petersham,  1851. 

Pittsfield,  1845, 1851, 1854, 1857, 1871. 

Plymouth,  1850. 

Provincetown,  1858,  1869. 

Quincy,  1847. 

Randolph,  1854,  1865. 

Roxbury,  1852,  1854. 

Royalston,  1851. 

Rutland,  1855. 

Salem,  1854. 

Salisbury  (Mills),  1873. 

Sandisfield,  1874. 

Sandwich,  1849,  1871. 

Sheffield,  1852,  1861. 


Shelburne  Falls,  1861,  1868. 
Shrewsbury,  1855. 
Southbridge,  1851,  1872. 
Stoughton,  1851,  1866. 
Sunderland,  1848. 
Swampscott,  1865. 
Taunton,  1846,  1865. 
Templeton,  1853,  1874. 
Townsend,  1859. 
Truro,  1857. 
JJxbridge,  1862. 
Waltham,  1860. 
Ware,  1851, 1856, 1864, 1873. 
Webster,  1859. 
Wakefield,  1872. 
Wellfleet,  1859,  1871. 
Westboro1,  1858. 
Westfield,  1855. 
Westford,  1863. 
West  Newbury,  1871. 
West  Stockbridge,  1873. 
Weymouth,  1861. 
Wilbraham,  1861. 
Williamsburg,  1856. 
Williamstown,  1862,  1872. 
Winchendon,  1856,  1867. 
Woburn,  1852. 
Worcester,  1852, 1854. 
Wrentham,  1852. 
Yarmouth,  1855,  1862, 1865. 


The  annual  meetings  of  the  county  associations  of  teachers 
are  not  under  the  control  of* the  state  authorities,  though  the 
Secretary,  Agents  and  members  of  the  Board  of  Education 
are  often  present.  The  appropriation  has  led  to  the  formation 
of  societies  that  are  interested  in  the  improvement  of  the  Public 
Schools,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  Commonwealth  derives 
an  adequate  return  for  the  outlay. 


MASSACHUSETTS  SCHOOL  FUND. 
SECTION 

1.  School  fund,  how  invested.    Income  only 
to  be  used. 

2.  Half  the  income  to  be  distributed  for  sup- 
port of  common  schools.    Appropriations 
for  other  educational  purposes  to  be  paid 
from  other  half.    Surplus  to  be  added  to 
principal. 


CHAPTER  36.— Of  the  School  Funds. 

SECTION 

3.  Apportioned  for  schools  by  secretary  and 
treasurer.    When  towns  are  not  entitled 
to  share. 

4.  .Income  received  by  towns  to  be  applied 

for  support  of  schools  therein. 

5.  Appropriations  for  Indians.     Account  to 
be  rendered.     (Repealed.) 


18 


LAWS   RELATING   TO   PUBLIC    SCHOOLS.  [CHAP.  36. 


INDIAN  SCHOOL  FOND. 
SECTION 

6.  Indian  school  fund,  how  applied,  etc.  (Re- 
pealed.) 


TODD  NORMAL  SCHOOL  FUND. 
SECTION 
7.  Todd  fund,  how  applied. 


SECT.  1. 


School      fund, 

how    invested. 

Income  only  to 

be  used. 

R.  8.  11,  §§  13, 

14. 


1866,  53,  §  1. 


Massachusetts  School  Fund. 

The  present  school  fund  of  this  Commonwealth,  together 
with  such  additions  as  may  be  made  thereto,  shall  con- 
stitute a  permanent  fund,  to  be  invested  by  the  treasurer, 
with  the  approbation  of  the  governor  and  council,  and 
called  the  "  Massachusetts  School  Fund  "  ;  the  principal 
of  which  shall  not*  be  diminished,  and  the  income  of 
which,  including  the  interest  on  notes  and  bonds  taken  for  sales  of 
Maine  lands  and  belonging  to  said  fund,  shall  be  appropriated  as 
hereinafter  provided. 

[Amendment.] 

[The  secretary  of  the  board  of  education  and  the  treasurer  and 
receiver-general  shall  be  commissioners  whose  duty  shall 
be  to  invest  and  manage  the  Massachusetts  school  fund, 
and  report  annually  to  the  legislature  the  condition  and  income  there- 
of. All  new  investments  of  said  fund,  or  any  part  of  the  same,  shall 
be  made  with  the  approval  of  the  governor  and  council.] 

[Amendments  to  Sections  2  and  3.] 

[SECT.  1.  One-half  of  the  annual  income  of  the  Massachusetts 
school  fund  shall  be  apportioned  and  distributed  for  the 
di8t°ributedh°w  support  of  public  schools  without  a  specific  appropria- 
tion, and  in  the  manner  following,  to  wit :  Each  town 
complying  with  all  laws  in  force  relating  to  the  distribution  of  said 
income,  and  whose  valuation  of  real  and  personal  estate,  as  shown  by 
the  last  returns  thereof,  does  not  exceed  one  million  dollars,  shall 
annually  receive  two  hundred  dollars  ;  each  town  complying  as  afore- 
said, whose  valuation  is  more  than  one  million,  and  does  not  exceed 
three  million  dollars,  shall  receive  one  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars;  and  each  town  complying  as  aforesaid,  whose 
valuation  is  more  than  three  millions,  and  does  not  exceed  five  million 
dollars,  shall  receive  one  hundred  dollars.  The  remainder  of  said 
moiety,  after  the  division  above  provided,  shall  be  distributed  to  all 
the  towns  and  cities  of  the  Commonwealth  whose  valuation  does  not 
exceed  ten  million  dollars,  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  persons 
belonging  to  each,  between  five  and  fifteen  years  of  age. 

SECT.  2.  All  money  appropriated  for  other  educational  purposes, 
unless  otherwise  provided  in  the  act  appropriating  the  same,  shall  be 
paid  from  the  other  half  of  said  income.  If  the  income  in  any  year 
exceeds  such  appropriations,  the  surplus  shall  be  added  to  the  princi- 
pal of  said  fund.] 


1874,  348. 


CHAP.  36.]          LAWS   RELATING   TO   PUBLIC    SCHOOLS.  19 

[SECT.  1.     The  third  section  of  the  thirty-sixth  chapter  of  the  Gen- 
eral Statutes  is  hereby  amended,  so  that  the  income  of 
the  Massachusetts  school  fund,  appropriated  to  the  sup-     ^°™e  °fund 
port  of  public  schools,  which  shall  have  accrued  on  the     fea8ya Jie  toVnt 
thirty-first  day  of  December  in  each  year,  shall  be  ap-     BywSf  and 
portioned  by  the  secretary  and  treasurer  in  the  manner     ^n'Q8  § : 
provided  in  said  section,  and  paid  over  by  the  treasurer 
to  the  treasurers  of  the  several  cities  and  towns,  on  the  twenty-fifth 
day  of  January  thereafter,  instead  of  the  times  named  in  said  section ; 
and  so  much  of  said  section  as  is  inconsistent  with  the  provisions  of 
this  act  is  hereby  repealed.] 

[Chap.  142,  1865.] 

[SECT.  1.     No  apportionment  and  distribution  of  the  annual  income 
of  the  school  fund,  as  provided  by  the  second  and  third 
sections  of  chapter  thirty-six  of  the  General  Statutes, 
shall  be  made  to  any  town  or  city  which  has  not  com- 
plied  with  the  requisitions  of  the  first  and  second  sec-     l°ow^es  and 
tions  of   chapter  thirty-eight,   and   the  fifth   and   sixth     JJj*  80e88toth™ 
sections  of  chapter  forty  of  the  General  Statutes,  and  of     Jgjjg5^  §  a 
any  amendments  to  either  of  said  sections  ;  or  which  has 
not  raised  by  taxation  for  the  support  of  schools,  during  the  school 
year  embraced  in  the  last  annual  returns,  including  only  wages  and 
board  of  teachers,  fuel  for  the  schools,  and  care  of  fires  and  school- 
rooms, a  sum  not  less  than  three  dollars  for  each  person  between  the 
ages  of  five  and  fifteen  years,  belonging  to  said  town  or  city  on  the 
first  day  of  May  of  said  school  year.] 

SECT.  4.     The  income  of  the  school  fund  received  by  the  several 
cities  and  towns  shall  be  applied  by  the  school  commit- 
tees thereof  to  the  support  of  the  public  schools  therein  ;      ed  by  towns" 
but  said  committees  may,  if  they  see  fit,  appropriate 
therefrom  any  sum,  not  exceeding  twenty-five  per ,  cent,  of  the  same, 
to  the  purchase  of  books  of  reference,  maps  and  apparatus  for  the  use 
of  said  schools. 

[Sections  5  and  6  repealed.]  1870,350. 

The  Normal  School  Fund. 

SECT.  7.     The  income  of  the  Todd  fund  shall  be  paid  by  the  treas- 
urer of  the  Commonwealth  on  the  warrant  of  the  srov- 

Todd  fund, 

ernor  to  the  board  of  education,  to  be  by  them  applied  to     how  applied, 
specific  objects  in  connection  with  the  normal  schools  \iot  provided  for 
by  legislative  appropriation. 


20 


LAWS    RELATING   TO   PUBLIC    SCHOOLS.  [CHAP.  38. 


(SECT.  4.) 

[Under  the  fourth  section  of  this  chapter  the  money  dis- 
tributed by  the  State  is  held  by  the  treasurers  of  the  respective 
towns,  subject  to  the  order  of  the  school  committee  of  each. 
Three-fourths  of  the  income  must  be  applied  by  the  committees 
to  the  support  of  schools,  and  the  whole  may  be.  The  income 
received  from  the  State  is  not  subject  to  a  vote  of  the  town. 

Under  this  section,  it  becomes  the  duty  of  each  town  treasurer 
to  open  an  account  with  the  school  committee,  and  to  hold  the 
fund  received  from  the  State,  subject  to  their  order.] 

(SECT.  7.) 

[The  Todd  fund  now  amounts  to  $12,100,  and  the  income  is 
devoted  to  teaching  music  and  the  payment  of  lecturers  in  the 
several  departments  of  natural  science.  It  is  well  known  that 
Mr.  Todd  did  not  intend  to  relieve  the  State  of  its  duty  to  pro- 
vide for  the  general  support  of  the  schools,  and  hence  the  Board 
have  so  used  the  income  as  to  enlarge  the  opportunities  of  the 
pupils,  and  furnish  instruction  in  those  departments  for  which 
provision  has  not  been  made  by  the  Commonwealth.] 


1866,  210. 


[Chapter  37,  of  State  Scholarships,  repealed.] 


CHAPTER  38.— Of  the  Public  Schools. 


PUBLIC  SCHOOLS. 
SECTION 

1.  Each  town  to  have  school  six  months  in 
a  year.    Branches  to  be  taught. 

2.  High    school    in  towns  of  five  hundred 
families.     Branches  taught.     Duration  of 
school.    Towns  of  four  thousand  inhabit- 
ants.     Number    of  families,    how  ascer- 
tained. 

3.  High  school  districts  in  adjacent  towns, 
how  established. 

4.  Committee,  how  chosen.    Powers. 

5.  — to  determine  location  of  school-house. 

6.  Expenses  apportioned. 

7.  Schools  may  be  maintained  for  those  over 
fifteen  years  of  age. 

8.  —under  superintendence  of  school  com- 
mittee. 

9.  Female  assistants. 

10.  Duty  of  instructors  in  colleges,  etc. 

11.  — of  ministers  and  town  officers. 

12.  Towns  to  raise  mtmey  for  schools. 

13.  Funds    of    corporations    for    supporting 
schools,  not  affected,  etc. 

14.  Forfeiture  for  neglect  to  raise  money,  etc. 


SECTION 

15.  Three-fourths  of,  to  be  appropriated  to 
schools. 

16.  School  committee,  how  chosen.    Number; 
term  of  service. 

17.  Vacancies,  how  filled. 

18.  When  whole  committee  decline ;  new  com- 
mittee, how  elected. 

19.  Term  of  service  of  person  filling  vacancy. 

20.  On  election  of  new  board,  certain  duties 
of  old  to  continue. 

21.  Committee,  how  increased  or  diminished. 

22.  — records  of;  secretary. 

23.  Committee  to  contract  with  teachers,  un- 
less, etc. 

24.  Instructor  to  receive  and  file  certificate. 
When  and  how  paid. 

25.  —may  be    dismissed.     Compensation    to 
cease. 

26.  Examinations  and  visits  by  committee. 

27.  Bible  to  be  read  in  schools.     Sectarian 
books  excluded. 

28.  Committee  to  direct  what  books  to  be  used. 
Change  of  books,  how  made,  etc. 

29.  —to  procure  books,  apparatus,  etc. 


CHAP.  38.]          LAWS   RELATING   TO   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS.  21 


SECTION 

30.  —for     certain     scholars    at    expense    of 
town. 

31.  Expense  of  books  so  supplied  to  be  taxed 
to  parents,  etc. 

32.  If  parents    unable  to    pay,  tax  may  be 
omitted. 

33.  Duty  of  committee  where  school  is  for 
benefit  of  whole  town. 

34.  Compensation  of  committee. 

35.  Superintendent  of  schools,  appointment, 
duties  and  compensation. 


SCHOOL-HOUSES. 
SECTION 

36.  Towns  not  districted,  to  maintain  school- 
houses,  etc. 

37.  Location  of  school-houses. 

38.  Land  may  be  taken  for  school-house  lots.etc, 

39.  Owner  of  land  may  have  jury.    Proceed- 
ings.   Damages  and  costs. 

40.  Committee  of  town  not  districted  to  have 
charge  of  school-houses. 

41.  Provisions  of  chapter  to  apply  to  cities, 
except,  etc. 


SECT.  1.     In  every  town  there  shall  be  kept,  for  at  least  six  months 
in  each  year,  at  the  expense  of  said  town,  by  a  teacher     Each  town  to 
or  teachers  of  competent  ability  .and  good  morals,  a  suffi-     ^nth?00^* 
cient  number  of   schools  for  the  instruction  of  all  the     Branches 
children  who  may  legally  attend  public  school  therein,  in     ^"§''23  §  j 
orthography,  reading,  writing,  English  grammar,  geogra-     J^'T^'I 
phy,  arithmetic,    (drawing,)   the  history  of  the  United      iwo,'2k 
States,  and  good  behavior.     Algebra,  vocal  music,  (agriculture,)  physi- 
ology and  hygiene  shall  be  taught  by  lectures  or  otherwise,  in  all  the 
public  schools  in  which  the  school  committee  deem  it  expedient. 

[Anjr  city  or  town  may,  and  every  city  and  town  having  more  than 
ten  thousand  inhabitants  shall,  annually,  make  provision 
for  giving  free  instruction  in  industrial  or  mechanical 
drawing  to  persons  over  fifteen  years  of  age,  either  in      1870,248. 
day  or  evening  schools,  under  the  direction  of  the  school  committee.] 

SECT.  2.     Ever}'  town  may,  and  every  town  containing  five  hundred 
families  or  householders  shall,  besides  the  schools  pre- 
scribed in  the  preceding  section,  maintain  a  school  to  be 


kept  by  a  master  of  competent  ability  and  good  morals,      Branches 

who,  in  addition  to  the  branches  of  learning  before  men- 

tioned, shall  give  instruction  in  general  history,  book-keeping,  survey- 

ing, geometry,  natural  philosophy,  chemistry,  botan}*,  the  civil  polity 

of   this   Commonwealth   and   of   the   United  States,  and  the  Latin 

language.     Such   last-mentioned   school    shall    be   kept 

for  the  benefit  of  all   the  inhabitants  of  the  town,  ten      school.011 

.    i  i       .  «  ,.  .  ,  Towns  of  4,000 

months  at  least,  exclusive  of  vacations,  in  each  year,     inhabitants. 
and  at  such   convenient  place,  or  alternately   at   such     iicuSt  ITS! 
places  in  the  town,  as  the  legal  voters  at  their  annual 
meeting  determine.     And  in  every  town   containing  four  thousand 
inhabitants,  the  teacher  or  teachers  of  the  schools  required  by  this 
section,   shall,   in   addition  to   the    branches   of   instruction    before 
required,  be  competent  to  give  instruction  in  the  Greek  and  French 
languages,  astronomy,  geology,  rhetoric,  logic,  intellectual  and  moral 
science,  and  political  economy. 

4 


22  LAWS   RELATING   TO   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS.          [CHAP.  38. 

[Amendments.] 

[Any  town  which  shall  maintain  the  school  required  to  be  maintained 

by  the  second  section  of  chapter  thirty-eight  of  the  Gen- 
High  school  36         J 
weeks.  eral  Statutes,  not  less  than  thirty-six  weeks,  exclusive  of 

vacations  in  each  year,  shall  not  be  liable  to  the  forfeit- 
ure provided  in  section  first,  chapter  one  hundred  and  forty-two  of  the 
laws  of  the  }*ear  eighteen  hundred  and  sixt3T-five,  for  non-compliance 
with  the  requisitions  of  the  aforesaid  second  section.]  (See  chap.  36, 
sect.  3,  2d  amendment.) 

[In  order  to  ascertain  that  any  town  is  subject  to  the  requirement  of 
NO  of  families  section  second,  chapter  thirty-eight  of  the  General  Stat- 
how  ascertain,  utes,  the  number  of  families  or  householders  thereof 
1868, 226,  §  i.  shall  be  determined  by  the  latest  public  census  which 
shall  have  been  taken,  by  the  authority  either  of  this  Commonwealth 
or  of  the  United  States.] 

SECT.  3.  Two  adjacent  towns,  having  each  less  than  five  hundred 
High  school  families  or  householders,  may  form  one  high  school  dis- 
facenttowSt  trict'  for  establishing  such  a  school  as  is  contemplated 
how  establish-  JQ  tae  preceding  section,  when  a  majority  of  the  legal 
103  Mass.  99.  voters  of  each  town,  in  meeting  called  for  that  purpose, 
so  determine. 

SECT.  4.     The  school  committees  of  the  two  towns  so  united  shall 

elect  one  person  from  each  of  their  respective  boards, 

how  chosen.         and  the  two  so  elected  shall  form  the  committee  for  the 

management  and  control  of   such  school,  with  all  the 

powers  conferred  upon  school  committees  and  prudential  committees. 

SECT.  5.     The  committee  thus  formed  shall  determine  the  location 

of  the  school-house  authorized  to  be  built  by  the  towns 

location  of          forming  the  district,  or  if  the  towns  do  not  determine  to 

school-house. 

erect  a  house,  shall  authorize  the  location  of  such  school 
alternately  in  the  two  towns. 

SECT.  6.     In  the  erection  of  a  school-house  for  the  permanent  loca- 
tion of  such  school,  in  the  support  and  maintenance  of 

j&xpcnscs  ftp-  *•  * 

portioned.  ^he  school,  and  in  all  incidental  expenses  attending  the 

same,  the  proportions  to  be  paid  by  each  town,  unless  otherwise  agreed 
upon,  shall  be  according  to  its  proportion  of  the  county  tax. 

[Two  or  more  towns  may  unite  in  establishing  union  schools  for  the 
Union  schools  accommodation  of  such  contiguous  portions  of  each  as 
outldiltricteth~  S^a^  ke  mutually  agreed  upon,  when  a  majority  of  the 
1868, 278.  legal  voters  in  each  town,  in  meetings  called  for  that 

purpose,  so  determine. 

In  providing  for  the  management  and  control  of  said  school ;  in  de- 
termining the  location  of  said  school-houses,  or  of  the  schools  ;  in  ap- 
portioning the  expenses  of  erecting  such  school-houses,  and  of  the 


CHAP.  38.]          LAWS   RELATING   TO   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS.  23 

support  and  maintenance  of  said  school,  with  all  expenditures  incident 
to  the  same,  all  proceedings  shall  be  governed  by  the  provisions  of  the 
fourth,  fifth  and  sixth  sections  of  the  thirty-eighth  chapter  of  the  Gen- 
eral Statutes.] 

SECT.  7.     Any  town  may  establish  and  maintain,  in  addition  to  the 
schools  required  by  law  to  be  maintained  therein,  schools 
for  the  education  of  persons  over  (twelve)  years  of  age ;      be  maintaS 

.,  „  ..          •  ,  for  those  over 

may  determine  the  term  or  terms  of  time  in  each  year,      12  years  of  age. 
and  the  hours  of  the  day  or  evening  during  which  said 
school  shall  be  kept ;  and  appropriate  such  sums  of  money  as  may  be 
necessary  for  the  support  thereof. 

SECT.  8.     When  a  school  is  so  established,  the  school  committee 
shall  have  the  same  superintendence  over  it  as  they  have 
over  other  schools  ;  and  shall  determine  what  branches     intendence  of 

...          .  committee. 

of  learning  may  be  taught  therein. 

[The  city  council  of  any  city,  and  any  town,  may  establish  and 
maintain  one  or  more  industrial  schools,  and  raise  and 

.  Industrial 

appropriate  the  money  necessary  to  render  them  efficient,  schools. 
Such  schools  shall  be  under  the  superintendence  of  the 
board  of  school  committee  of  the  city  or  town  wherein  they  are  estab- 
lished, and  such  board  shall  employ  the  teachers,  prescribe  the  arts, 
trades  and  occupations  to  be  taught  in  such  schools,  and  shall  have 
the  general  control  and  management  thereof :  provided,  that  in  no  case 
shall  the  expense  of  any  such  school  exceed  the  appropriation  specifi- 
cally made  therefor  ;  and  provided,  that  nothing  in  this  act  contained 
shall  authorize  the  school  committee  of  any  city  or  town  to  compel 
any  scholar  to  study  any  trade,  art  or  occupation,  without  the  consent 
of  the  parent  or  guardian  of  such  scholar,  and  that  attendance  upon 
any  such  school  shall  not  take  the  place  of  the  attendance  upon  public 
schools  required  by  law.] 

SECT.  9.     In  every  public  school,  having  an  average  of  fifty  schol- 
ars, the  school  district  or  town  to  which  such  school  be-     Femaie  aasist_ 
longs  shall  employ  one  or  more  female  assistants,  unless      ants- 
such  district  or  town,  at  a  meeting  called  for  the  purpose,  votes  to  dis- 
pense with  such  assistant. 

SECT.  10.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  president,  professors  and 
tutors  of  the  university  at  Cambridge  and  of  the  several  Duty  of  in. 
colleges,  of  all  preceptors  and  teachers  of  academies, 
and  of  all  other  instructors  of  youth,  to  exert  their  best 
endeavors  to  impress  on  the  minds  of  children  and  youth  12  Allen» 127- 
committed  to  their  care  and  instruction,  the  principles  of  piety  and 
justice,  and  a  sacred  regard  to  truth ;  love  of  their  country,  humanity 
and  universal  benevolence  ;  sobriety,  industry,  and  frugality  ;  chastity, 
moderation  and  temperance ;  and  those  other  virtues  which  are  the 


24  LAWS   KELATING   TO   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS.  [CHAP.  38. 

ornament  of  human  society  and  the  basis  upon  which  a  republican 
constitution  is  founded ;  and  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  such  instructors 
to  endeavor  to  lead  their  pupils,  as  their  ages  and  capacities  will  admit, 
into  a  clear  understanding  of  the  tendency  of  the  above-mentioned 
virtues,  to  preserve  and  perfect  a  republican  constitution,  and  secure 
the  blessings  of  liberty,  as  well  as  to  promote  their  future  happiness, 
and  also  to  point  out  to  them  the  evil  tendency  of  the  opposite  vices. 

SECT.  11.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  resident  ministers  of  the 
Duty  of  minis-  gosPe^  the  selectmen,  and  the  school  committees,  to  exert 
officers'1  t°wn  their  influence,  and  use  their  best  endeavors,  that  the 
101  Mass.  143.  youth  of  their  towns  shall  regularly  attend  the  schools 
established  for  their  instruction. 

SECT.  12.  The  several  towns  shall,  at  their  annual  meetings,  or  at 
Towns  to  raise  a  regu^ar  meeting  called  for  the  purpose,  raise  such  sums 
schooTsfor  °^  monev  f°r  the  support  of  schools  as  the}7  judge  neces- 

10  Met.  513.  sarv  .  wm'ch  sums  shall  be  assessed  and  collected  in  like 
manner  as  other  town  taxes. 

SECT.  13.  Nothing  contained  in  this  chapter  shall  affect  the  right 
School  funds  of  °^  anv  corporation,  established  in  a  town,  to  manage 
notPa°ffected8  anv  estate  or  funds  given  or  obtained  for  the  purpose 
etc-  of  supporting  schools  therein,  or  in  any  wise  affect 

such  estate  or  funds. 

SECT.  14.  A  town  which  refuses  or  neglects  to  raise  money  for  the 
support  of  schools,  as  required  by  this  chapter,  shall  for- 

Forfeiture    for  J 

neglect  to  raise  feit  a  sum  equal  to  twice  the  highest  sum  ever  before 
voted  for  the  support  of  schools  therein.  A  town  which 
refuses  or  neglects  to  choose  a  school  committee  to  superintend  said 
schools  (or  to  choose  prudential  committees  in  the  several  districts, 
when  it  is  the  duty  of  the  town  to  choose  such  prudential  committee), 
shall  forfeit  a  sum  not  less  than  five  hundred  nor  more  than  one  thou- 
sand dollars,  to  be  paid  into  the  treasury  of  the  county. 

SECT.  15.  Three-fourths  of  any  forfeiture  paid  into  the  treasury  of 
—three  fourths  tne  countv  un(^er  tne  preceding  section,  shall  be  paid  by 
of,  appropriat-  the  treasurer  to  the  school  committee,  if  any,  otherwise 

ed  to  schools.  J  ' 

to  the  selectmen  of  the  town  from  which  it  is  recovered, 
who  shall  apportion  and  appropriate  the  same  to  the  support  of  the 
schools  of  such  town,  in  the  same  manner  as  if  it  had  been  regularly 
raised  by  the  town  for  that  purpose. 

SECT.  16.  Every  town  shall,  at  the  annual  meeting,  choose,  by 
School  com.  written  ballots,  a  board  of  school  committee,  which  shall 
c^  nave  tne  general  charge  and  superintendence  of  all  the 
75.'  public  schools  in  town.  Said  board  shall  consist  of  any 
12  Alien1!  12?!  number  of  persons  divisible  by  three,  which  said  town 
105  Si  IS  has  decided  to  elect,  one-third  thereof  to  be  elected 


CIIAP.  38.]          LAWS   RELATING   TO   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS.  25 

annualty,  and  continue  in  office  three  3Tears.  If  a  town  fails  or  neg- 
lects to  choose  such  committee,  an  election  at  a  subsequent  meeting 
shall  be  valid. 

[No  person  shall  be  deemed  to  be  ineligible  to  serve     ^men  elig' 
upon  a  school  committee  by  reason  of  sex.]  1874, 389. 

SECT.  17.     If  an}T  person  elected  a  member  of  the  school  committee,  • 
after  being  duly  notified  of  his  election  in  the  manner  in     vacancies, 
which  town  officers  are  required  to  be  notified,  refuses  or     how  fille<L 
neglects  to  accept  said  office,  or  if  any  member  of  the  board  declines 
further  service,  or,  from  change  of  residence  or  otherwise,  becomes 
unable  to  attend  to  the  duties  of  the  board,  the  remaining  members 
shall,  in  writing,  give  notice  of  the  fact  to  the  selectmen  of  the  town, 
or  to  the  mayor  and  aldermen  of  the  city,  and  the  two  boards  shall 
thereupon,  after  giving  public  notice  of  at  least  one  week,  proceed  to 
fill  such  vacancy  ;  and  a  majority  of  the  ballots  of  persons  entitled  to 
vote  shall  be  necessary  to  an  election. 

SECT.  18.  If  all  the  persons  elected  as  members  of  the  school 
committee,  after  such  notice  of  their  election,  refuse  or 

When     whole 

neglect  to  accept  the  office,  or  having  accepted,  after-     committee  de- 
cline; new 
wards  decline  further  service,  or  become  unable  to  attend      committee.how 

elected. 

to  the  duties  of  the  board,  the  selectmen  or  the  mayor 

and  aldermen  shall,  after  giving  like  public  notice,  proceed  by  ballot 

to  elect  a  new  board,  and  the  votes  of  a  majority  of  the  entire  board 

of  selectmen,  or  of  the  ma}7or  and  aldermen,  shall  be  necessary  to  an 

election. 

SECT.  19.  The  term  of  service  of  every  member  elected  in  pur- 
suance of  the  provisions  of  the  two  preceding  sections,  Term  of  ecr 
shall  end  with  the  municipal  or  official  year  in  which  he  vice  of  person 

filling  vacancy. 

is  chosen,  and  if  the  vacancy  which  he  was  elected  to 
fill  was  for  a  longer  period,  it  shall,  at  the  first  annual  election  after 
the  occurrence  of  the  vacancy,  be  filled  in  the  manner  prescribed  Tor 
original  elections  of  the  school  committee. 

[The  term  of  office  of  members  of  the  school  committee  in  cities, 
where  no  different  provision  has  been  heretofore  specifi- 

Term  of  office 

cally  made,  shall  commence  at  the  same  time,  from  vear     *»  cities. 

J  J  1865,  134. 

to  3Tear,  as  is  now  provided  in  regard  to  members  of  the 
several  city  councils,  anything  in  the  twentieth  section  of  the  thirty- 
eighth  chapter  of  the   General   Statutes   to   the    contrary   notwith- 
standing.] 

SECT.  20.  All  members  of  the  school  committee  shall  continue  in 
office  for  the  purpose  of  superintending  the  winter  terms 

On  election  of 

of  the  several  schools,  and  of  making  and  transmitting     new  board,  cer- 

0        tain  duties    of 

the   certificate,  returns,  and  reports  of  the  committee,      old  to  con- 
notwithstanding  the   election  of  any  successor   at   the 


26  LAWS   RELATING   TO   PUBLIC    SCHOOLS.  [CHAP.  38. 

annual  meeting  ;  but  for  all  other  duties,  the  term  of  office  shall  com- 
mence immediately  after  election. 

SECT.  21.     Any  town  may,  at  the  annual  meeting,  vote  to  increase 
or  diminish  the  number  of  its  school  committee.     Such 

Committee, 

how  increased     increase  shall  be  made  by  adding  one  or  more  to  each 

or  diminished. 

class,  to  hold  office  according  to  the  tenure  of  the  class 
to  which  they  are  severally  chosen.  Such  diminution  shall  be  made 
by  choosing,  annuallv,  such  number  as  will  in  three  years  effect  it,  and 
a  vote  to  diminish  shall  remain  in  force  until  the  diminution  under  it 
is  accomplished. 

SECT.  22.  The  school  committee  shall  appoint  a  secretary,  and 
Records  of;  keep  a  permanent  record  book,  in  which  all  its  votes, 
orders  and  proceedings  shall  by  him  be  recorded. 

SECT.  23.  The  school  committee,  unless  the  town  at  its  annual 
TO  contract  meeting  determines  that  the  duty  may  be  performed  by 
with  teachers,  f^g  prudential  committee,  shall  select  and  contract  with 

unless,  etc. 

Q  Alien,  94.  the  teachers  of  the  public  schools  ;  shall  require  full  and 
satisfactory  evidence  of  the  good  moral  character  of  all 
instructors  who  may  be  employed  ;  and  shall  ascertain,  by  personal 
examination,  their  qualifications  for  teaching  and  capacity  for  the 
government  of  schools. 

SECT.  24.     Every  instructor  of  a  town  or  district  school  shall,  be- 
Teacherstore      ^ore  ne  °Pens  such  school,  obtain  from  the  school  com- 
file     mittee  a  certificate  in  duplicate  of  his  qualifications,  one 


When  and  of  which  shall  be  deposited  with  the  selectmen  before 

how  paid. 

any  payment  is  made  to  such  instructor  on  account  of 
his  services  ;  and  upon  so  filing  such  certificate,  the  teacher  of  any 
public  school  shall  be  entitled  to  receive,  on  demand,  his  wages  due  at 
the  expiration  of  any  quarter,  or  term  longer  or  shorter  than  a  quar- 
ter, or  upon  the  close  of  any  single  term  of  service,  subject  to  the 
condition  specified  in  section  thirteen  of  chapter  fort}\ 

SECT.  25.  The  school  committee  may  dismiss  from  employment 
May  he  dis  anJT  teacner  whenever  they  think  proper,  and  such 
9AUen'  ?!'  teacher  shall  receive  no  compensation  for  services  ren- 

dered after  such  dismissal. 

[Substituted  for  Section  26.] 

[Section  twent}T-six  of  chapter  thirty-eight  of  the  General  Statutes, 
Examinations  is  amended  to  read  as  follows  :  The  school  committee, 
c^mmHte8eby  or  some  one  or  more  of  them,  for  the  purpose  of  organ- 
1873,  292,  §2.  jzing  am\  making  a  careful  examination  of  the  schools, 
and  of  ascertaining  that  the  scholars  are  properly  supplied  with  books, 
shall  visit  all  the  public  schools  in  the  town  on  some  day  during  the 
first  week  after  the  opening  of  such  schools,  and  also  on  some  day 


CHAP.  38.]  LAWS   RELATING    TO    PUBLIC    SCHOOLS.  27 

during  the  two  weeks  preceding  the  close  of  the  same  ;  and  shall  also 
for  the  same  purposes  visit,  without  giving  previous  notice  thereof 
to  the  instructors,  all  the  public  schools  in  the  town  once  in  a  month, 
and  they  shall,  at  such  examinations,  inquire  into  the  regulation  and 
discipline  of  the  schools,  and  the  habits  and  proficiency  of  the 
scholars. 1 

[Substituted  for  Section  27.] 

[SECT.  1.     The  school  committee  shall  require  the  daily  reading  of 
some  portion  of  the  Bible,  without  written  note  or  oral 
comment,  in  the  public  schools,  but  they  shall  require  no     ™ad  in  schools 

without  note 

scholar  to  read  from  any  particular  version,  whose  parent  or  comment. 

or  guardian  shall  declare  that  he  has  conscientious  scru-  to  be 
pies  against  allowing  him  to  read  therefrom,  nor  shall 

they  ever  direct  any  school  books  calculated  to  favor  the  Cd. 

1862    *)7 

tenets  of  any  particular  sect  of  Christians,  to  be  pur-     12  Alien,  127. 
chased  or  used  in  any  of  the  public  schools.] 

SECT.  28.  The  school  committee  shall  direct  what  books  shall  be 
used  in  the  public  schools,  and  no  change  shall  be  made  gchool  book8 
in  said  books  except  by  the  unanimous  consent  of  the  change  of, 

now  made,  etc. 

whole  board,  unless  the  committee  consists  of  more  than 
nine,  and  questions  relating  to  school  books  are  intrusted  to  a  sub- 
committee. In  that  case,  the  consent  of  two-thirds  of  the  whole 
number  of  said  sub-committee,  with  the  concurrent  vote  of  three-fourths 
of  the  whole  board,  shall  be  requisite  for  such  change.  If  any  change 
is  made,  each  pupil  then  belonging  to  the  public  schools,  and  requir- 
ing the  substituted  book,  shall  be  furnished  with  the  same,  by  the 
school  committee,  at  the  expense  of  said  town. 

[Amendments  to  Section  28.] 

[In  any  city  in  which  the  school  committee  consists  of  more  than 
eighteen  persons,  a  change  may  be  made  in  the  school      school  books. 
books  used  in  the  public  schools  in  such  cit}',  by  a  major-      SSe1?6'  h°w 
it}T  of  the  whole  committee,  at  a  legal  meeting  of  said       S63)  126' 
committee ;   notice  of  such  intended  change  shall  be  given  at  a  pre- 
vious meeting  thereof.] 

[In  any  town  or  city  in  this  Commonwealth,  in  which  the  school 
committee  consists  of  less  than  twelve,  a  change  may      1867  155 
be  made  in  the  school  books  in  the  public  schools  in  such 
town  or  city,  by  a  vote  of  two-thirds  of  the  whole  committee,  at  a 
meeting  of  said  committee,  notice  of  such  intended  change  having 
been  given  at  a  previous  meeting  of  said  committee.] 

[School  committees,  in  addition  to  the  duties  set  forth  in  section 
twenty-eight  of  chapter  thirty-eight  of  the  General  Stat-      Courge  of 
utes,  shall  prescribe,  as  far  as  is  practicable,  a  course  of     ^Jribe? 
studies  and  exercises  to  be  pursued  in  the  public  schools.]      1873» 292- 


28  LAWS    RELATING   TO   PUBLIC    SCHOOLS.  [CHAP.  38. 

SECT.  29.     The  school  committee  shall  procure,  at  the  expense  of 
Committee  to      ^ie  c^  or  town»  a  sufficient  supply  of  text-books  for  the 


schools,  and  give  notice  where  they  may  be  ob- 
i38pieck'  229    •     taiQed-     Said  books  shall  be  furnished  to  the  pupils  at 
such  prices  as  merely  to  re-imburse  the  expense  of  the 
same.     The  school  committee  may  also  procure,  at  the  expense  of  the 
city  or  town,  such  apparatus,  books  of  reference,  and  other  means  of 
illustration  as  they  deem  necessary  for  the  schools  under  their  super- 
vision, in  accordance  with  appropriations  therefor  previously  made. 
SECT.  30.     If  any  scholar  is  not  furnished  by  his  parent,  master  or 
guardian,  with  .the  requisite  books,  he  shall  be  supplied 
scholars  at  ex-     therewith  by  the  school  committee  at  the  expense  of  the 

pense  of  town. 

town. 

SECT.  31.     The  school  committee  shall  give  notice  in  writing  to  the 
assessors  of  the  town  of  the  names  of  the  scholars  sup- 
so°8np-     plied  with  books  under  the  provisions  of  the  preceding 
parents'     section,  of  the  books  so  furnished,  the  prices  thereof, 
and  the  names  of  the  parents,  masters  or  guardians,  who 
ought  to  have  supplied  the  same.     The  assessors  shall  add  the  price 
of  the  books  to  the  next  annual  tax  of  such  parents,  masters  or  guar- 
dians ;  and  the  amount  so  added  shall  be  levied,  collected  and  paid 
into  the  town  treasury,  in  the  same  manner  as  the  town  taxes. 

SECT.  32.     If  the  assessors  are  of  opinion  that  any  parent,  master 
if  parents  un-       or  guardian,  is  unable  to  pay  the  whole  expense  of  the 
'''         books  so  supplied  on  his  account,  they  shall  omit  to  add 


f^g  price  of  such  books,  or  shall  add  only  a  part  thereof, 
to  his  annual  tax,  according  to  their  opinion  of  his  ability  to  pay. 

[Amendment  to  Section  32.] 

[SECT.  1.     Any  city  by  an  ordinance  of  the  city  council,  and  any 

town  by  legal  vote,  may  authorize  the  school  committee 

furnished  by        .to  purchase  text-books  for  use  in  the  public  schools,  said 


text-books  to  be  the  property  of  the  city  or  town,  and  to 
1p°nsned  be  loaned  to  pupils  under  such  regulations  as  the  school 

8*3,  ICG.  committee  may  provide.] 

SECT.  33.     In  any  town  containing  five  hundred  families  in  which 

a  school  is  kept  for  the  benefit  of  all  the  inhabitants  as 

Duty   of  com- 

mittee  where        before  provided,  the  school  committee  shall  perform  the 

school  is  for 

benefit  of  like  duties  in  relation  to  such  school,  the  house  where  it 

is  kept,  and  the  supply  of  all  things  necessary  therefor, 

as  the  prudential  committee  may  perform  in  a  school  district. 

SECT.  34.     The  members  of  the  school  committee  shall  be  paid  in 

cities  one  dollar,  and  in  towns  (two  dollars)  and  a  half, 

Compensation  .  ,          «        i»       j.*          .1  n 

of  committee.       each,  a  day,  for  the  time  they  are  actually  employed  in 
discharging  the  duties  of  their  office,  together  with  such 
additional  compensation  as  the  town  or  city  may  allow. 


CHAP.  38.]          LAWS    RELATING   TO   PUBLIC    SCHOOLS.  29 

SECT.  35.  Any  town  by  legal  vote,  and  any  city  by  an  ordinance 
of  the  city  council,  may  require  the  school  committee  8uperintend't  of 
annually  to  appoint  a  superintendent  of  public  schools,  iflgKJgSfc 
who,  under  the  direction  and  control  of  said  committee,  4 1873' 108- 
shall  have  the  care  and  supervision  of  the  schools,  with  such  salary  as 
the  city  government  or  town  may  determine ;  and  in  every  city  in 
which  such  ordinance  is  in  force,  and  in  every  town  in  which  such 
superintendent  is  appointed,  the  school  committee  shall  receive  no 
compensation,  unless  otherwise  provided  by  such  city  government 
or  town. 

[Amendments  to  Section  35.] 

[The  school  committee  of  any  city  or  town,  required  to  appoint  a 
superintendent  of  public  schools,  shall  have  authority  to      gchoo]  com 
determine  the  salary  of  such  superintendent,  anything  in      m!"e°Ba?ary.er" 
section  thirty-five  of  chapter  thirty-eight  of  the  General      1870' 117- 
Statutes  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.] 

[SECT.  1.     Any  two  or  more  towns  may,  by  a  vote  of  each,  form  a 
district  for  the  purpose  of  employing  a  superintendent 
of  public  schools  therein,  who  shall  perform  in  each  town      unite  to  elect 

superintend- 

the  duties  prescribed  by  law.  ent,  etc. 

SECT.  2.  Such  superintendent  shall  be  annually  ap- 
pointed by  a  joint  committee  composed  of  the  chairman  and  secretary 
of  the  school  committee  of  each  of  the  towns  in  said  district,  who  shall 
determine  the  relative "  amount  of  service  to  be  performed  by  him  in 
each  town,  fix  his  salary,  and  apportion  the  amount  thereof  to  be  paid 
by  the  several  towns,  and  certify  the  same  to  the  treasurer  of  each 
town.  Said  joint  committee  shall,  for  the  purposes  named  in  this  sec- 
tion, be  held  to  be  the  agents  of  each  town  composing  the  district 
aforesaid.] 

[The  school  committee  of  any  city  may  appoint  and  fix  the  compen- 
sation of  a  superintendent  of  public  schools,  a  majority 

„  ,  i          iii  T  i     •  City  commit- 

vote  of  the  whole  board  being  necessary  for  that  purpose  ;      tee  may  choose 
and  in  every  city  where  a  superintendent  is  appointed,      en?.emi 
the  school  committee  shall  receive  no  compensation.] 

[The  compensation  of  superintendents  of  public  schools  provided 
for  in  the  thirty-fifth  section  of  the  thirty-eighth  chapter 
of  the  General  Statutes,  passed  December  twenty-eighth,      Compensation 
eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-nine,  shall  in  no  case  be  less       86°' 101* 
than  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents  for  each  day  of  actual  service.] 

SECT.  36.     Every  town  not  divided  into  school  districts  shall  pro- 
vide and  maintain  a  sufficient  number  of  school-houses,      T 

/        j.  owns  not  ens- 

properly   furnished   and   conveniently   located,   for  the      fa!ntsciX™aill~ 
accommodation  of  all  the  children  therein  entitled  to     h°U8e6> etc- 
attend  the  public  schools  ;  and  the  school  committee,  unless  the  towa 
5 


30'  LAWS    RELATING   TO   PUBLIC    SCHOOLS.  [CHAP.  88. 

otherwise  direct,  shall  keep  them  in  good  order,  procuring  a  suitable 
place  for  the  schools,  where  there  is  no  school-house,  and  providing 
fuel  and  all  other  things  necessaiy  for  the  comfort  of  the  scholars  therein, 
at  the  expense  of  the  town. 

[A  town  which  for  one  j  ear  refuses  or  neglects  to  comply  with  the 

Penalty.  requisitions  of  this  section,  shall  forfeit  a  sum  not  less 

8*1,145.  tkan  £ye  burred  nor  more  than  one  thousand  dollars, 

under  the  same  provisions  as  those  made  in  sections  fourteen  and 

fifteen  of  this  chapter.] 

SECT.  37.  Any  town,  at  a  meeting  legally  called  for  the  purpose, 
Location  of  may  determine  the  location  of  its  school-houses,  and 

school-houses.  * 

R.  s.  23,  §§  28,  adopt  all  necessary  measures  to  purchase  or  procure  the 
1859,  252,  §  4.  land  for  the  accommodation  thereof. 

[Substituted  for  Section  38.] 

[When  land  has  been  designated  by  a  city  council,  town,  school 
Land  may  te  district,  or  those  acting  under  its  authority  or  deter- 
schoo/houBe  mine(l  upon  by  the  mayor  and  aldermen  of  a  cit}T,  or  by 
1874*  342  *ke  selectmen  of  a  town  as  a  suitable  place  for  the  erec- 


i<H3»l4io>         t*on  °**  a  scuo°l-h°use  and  necessary  buildings,  or  for 


enlarging  a  school-house,  or  school-house  lot,  the  mayor 
and  aldermen,  or  the  selectmen,  may  proceed  to  select, 
at  their  discretion,  and  to  lay  out  a  school-house  lot  or  ah  enlarge- 
ment thereof,  and  to  appraise  the  damages  to  the  owner  of  such  land  in 
the  manner  provided  for  laying  out  town  ways  and  appraising  damages 
sustained  thereby  ;  and  upon  such  selection  and  laying  out  of  such  lot, 
or  any.  enlargement  thereof  being  accepted  and  adopted  by  the  city 
council,  or  the  town,  the  land  shall  be  taken,  held  and  used  for  the 
purpose  aforesaid.-  But  no  lot  so  taken  or  enlarged  shall  exceed  in 
the  whole  eighty  square  rods,  exclusive  of  the  land  occupied  by  the 
school  buildings. 

SECT.  2.  Section  thirt}T-eight  of  chapter  thirty-eight  of  the  General 
Statutes  and  chapter  twenty-six  of  the  acts  of  the  year  eighteen  hun- 
dred and  sixty-nine  are  hereby  repealed,  but  such  repeal  shall  not  affect 
any  act  done,  or  apply  to  any  proceedings  had  or  commenced  before 
this  act  shall  take  effect.] 

SECT.  39.  When  the  owner  feels  aggrieved  by  the  laying  out  or 
Owner  of  land,  enlargement  of  such  lot,  or  by  the  award  of  damages,  he 
may>  upon  application  therefor  in  writing  to  the  county 
commissioners  within  one  j'ear  thereafter,  have  the  mat- 
Gray,  414.  ^er  of  k«g  compiain{;  tried  by  a  jury,  and  the  jur}7  may 
change  the  location  of  such  lot  or  enlargement,  and  assess  damages 
therefor.  The  proceedings  shall  in  all  respects  be  conducted  in  the 
manner  provided  in  cases  of  damages  by  laying  out  highways.  If  the 


CHAP.  38.]          LAWS   RELATING   TO   PUBLIC    SCHOOLS.  31 

damages  are  increased,  or  the  location  changed,  by  the  jury,  the 
damages  and  all  charges  shall  be  paid  by  the  town ;  otherwise  the 
charges  arising  on  such  application  shall  be  paid  by  such  applicant. 
The  land  so  taken  shall  be  held  and  used  for  no  other  purpose  than 
that  contemplated  by  this  chapter,  and  shall  revert  to  the  owner,  his 
heirs  or  assigns,  upon  the  discontinuance  there,  for  one  year,  of  such 
school  as  is  required  by  law  to  be  kept  by  the  town. 

SECT.  40.  The  school  committee  of  a  town  in  which  the  school 
district  system  has  been  abolished,  or  does  not  exist, 

»  '  ^  Committee    of 

shall  have  the  general  charge  and  superintendence  of     town  not  dis- 
tricted, to  have 
the  school-houses  in  said  town,  so  far  as  relates  to  the      charge  of 

school-houses. 

use  to  which  the  same  may  be  appropriated. 

SECT.  41.     Except  as  may  be  otherwise  provided  in  their  respective 
charters,  or  acts  in  amendment  thereof,  the  provisions  of 
this  chapter,  so  far  as  applicable,  shall  apply  to  cities.      Sapter°to  ap- 
And  the  ma}Tor  and  aldermen  in  the  several  cities  are      exce^Cetc?' 
authorized  to  execute  the  powers  given  in  section  thirty- 
eight  of  this  chapter  to  the  selectmen  and  town. 

(SECT.  2.) 

The  power  of  towns  to  vote  and  grant  money  for  the 
support  of  town  schools,  is  not  restricted  to  the  amount  that  is 
necessary  to  support  the  schools  which  the  first  five  and  the 
sixtieth  sections  of  chap.  23  of  the  Rev.  Stats,  [i.  e.  the  first 
section  of  this  chapter]  require  them  to  support,  under  a 
penalty  for  refusal  or  neglect  so  to  do ;  but  they  have  power  to 
vote  and  grant  money  for  the  support  of  other  town  schools, 
for  instruction  in  branches  of  knowledge  which  the  Revised 
Statutes  do  not  require  to  be  taught  in  such  schools.  A  town, 
which  had  raised  money  for  the  support  of  all  the  schools 
required  by  law,  and  had  supported  them,  also  raised  money  to 
support,  and  did  support,  a  female  high  school,  for  the  purpose 
of  teaching  book-keeping,  algebra,  geometry,  history,  rhetoric, 
mental,  moral  and  natural  philosophy,  botany,  the  Latin  and 
French  languages,  and  other  higher  branches  of  knowledge 
than  were  taught  in  the  grammar  schools  of  the  town.  Held, 
that  this  was  a  town  school  within  the  meaning  of  the  Revised 
Statutes,  and  that  the  money  for  its  support  was  legally  raised 
by  tax.  10  Met.  Reps.  508. 


32  LAWS   RELATING   TO  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS.          [CHAP.  38. 


(SECTIONS  7  and  8.) 

If  one  who  has  been  authorized  by  the  school  committee  of  a 
city  to  take  charge  of  an  evening  school,  employs  a  person  to 
render  needful  assistance  in  preserving  order  outside  of  the 
door  while  the  school  is  in  session,  the  city  is  liable  to  pay  a 
reasonable  compensation  to  such  person,  although  the  commit- 
tee have  never  acted  as  a  body  upon  this  particular  matter ; 
and,  in  such  case,  evidence  is  incompetent  to  show  that  in 
former  years  the  school  was  under  the  sole  control  of  the  com- 
mittee, or  that  the  committee  had  rejected  the  claim  for 
compensation.  10  Allen,  149. 

It  appears  by  the  latest  returns  that  89  schools  provided  for 
in  these  sections,  were  kept  in  32  cities  and  towns,  with  an 
aggregate  attendance  of  10,199  pupils,  and  444  teachers,  and 
at  an  expense  of  $52,238.33.  Large  numbers  of  these  pupils 
have  had  no  other  advantages  for  education,  and  very  many  of 
them  are  adults. 

(SECTIONS  10  and  11.) 

[This  beautiful  provision  of  our  state  constitution  has  been 
of  inestimable  advantage  to  the  State.  In  earlier  times  the 
university  at  Cambridge  was  the  nursery  of  learning,  virtue 
and  religion,  and  in  every  age  she  has  had  presidents,  profess- 
ors and  tutors,  who  have  regarded  the  injunction  of  the  people 
expressed  in  their  organic  law.  And  it  may  with  truth  be  said 
that  our  instructors  of  youth  have  both  taught  and  practised 
the  noble  virtues  enumerated  by  the  fathers  of  the  State. 
Abiding  under  the  law,  the  clergy  are  everywhere  the  zealous 
friends  of  education. 

In  nearly  every  town,  clergymen  are  members  of  the  com- 
mittees, and  participate  in  the  management  of  the  schools ;  but 
whether  so  intrusted  or  not,  they  are  always  willing  to  devote 
their  time  and  talents  for  the  welfare  of  the  schools.] 

(SECT.  12.) 

[The  duty  imposed  upon  towns  by  this  section,  has  wrought 
continually  for  the  advancement  of  our  public  school  system. 
As  a  necessary  consequence,  each  town  has  been  called  every 


CHAP.  38.]          LAWS   RELATING   TO    PUBLIC    SCHOOLS.  33 

year  to  consider  its  position  and  wants  in  connection  with  the 
schools.  Taxation  usually  leads  to  a  careful  supervision  of 
expenditures,  and  hence  there  has  been  but  little  extravagance 
or  wastefulness  in  the  towns.] 

The  whole  amount  thus  raised  for  the  school  year,  1873-4, 
was  $4,253,211.17,  making  an  average  of  $14.74  for  each 
child  between  the  ages  of  five  and  fifteen  years. 

(SECT.    14.) 

As  to  the  liability  of  a  town,  the  supreme  court  say: — 
"The  word  year,  as  used  in  this  statute,  must  be  taken  to  be  a 
calendar  year.  .  .  !  A  town,  therefore,  containing  the 
required  number  of  families  or  householders,  would  be  liable 
to  the  prescribed  penalty  for  each  calendar  year  during  which 
it  neglected  to  raise  money  for  the  support  of  a  school,  such  as 
is  specified  in  the  statute,  and  this  penalty  not  being  a  fixed 
one,  but  being  made  to  depend  on  the  highest  sum  ever  before 
raised  by  the  town  for  the  support  of  schools,  might  change  each 
year,  if  the  town  should  increase  its  annual  appropriation  for 
the  support  of  schools."  11  Gush.  178. 

(SECT.  16.) 

[The  school  law  of  1826,  chapter  170,  section  1,  first  required 
towns  to  elect  a  school  committee.  Previous  to  that  time  the 
election  was  optional. 

By  the  statutes  of  1827,  chapter  143,  section  5,  every  town 
was  required  to  elect  three,  five  or  seven  persons,  and  towns 
containing  four  thousand  inhabitants  were  empowered  to  choose 
an  additional  number,  not  exceeding  five.  By  the  Revised 
Statutes  (chap.  23,  §§10  and  12)  the  duty  was  again  recog- 
nized, and  authority  given  to  the  larger  towns  to  choose  six 
additional  members  instead  of  five. 

The  Act  of  1857,  chapter  270,  changed  the  number  of  mem- 
bers of  the  board  and  the  term  of  office.  The  number  was 
fixed  at  three  or  a  multiple  of  three,  and  each  member,  after  the 
first  election,  was  to  hold  office  three  years,  whereas  previously 
the  term  was  limited  to  one  year.  The  evils  of  the  old  system 
had  long  been  felt.  It  occasionally  happened  that  a  town 
would  elect  a  board  of  new  men  upon  an  issue  already  past,  or 


34  LAWS   RELATING   TO   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS.  [CHAP.  38. 

on  account  of  a  measure  whose  complete  effects  had  not  been 
fully  realized.  Hence  much  experience  was  lost  to  the  schools. 
The  existing  system  gives  a  town  an  opportunity,  by  the  elec- 
tion of  one-third  of  the  board  each  year,  to  express  approbation 
or  disapprobation  of  the  school  policy,  while  it  cannot  deprive 
the  schools  themselves  of  the  experience  of  a  majority  of  the 
members  of  the  committee.  The  new  system  is  at  once  demo- 
cratic and  conservative.] 

This  section  declares  that  the  board  of  school  committee 
"  shall  have  the  general  charge  and  superintendence  of  all  the 
public  schools  in  town." 

Following  are  various  decisions  of  tlie  supreme  court  defining 
the  power  thus  given  : — 

Chief  Justice  Shaw  uses  the  following  language  : — "  There 
being  no  specific  direction  how  schools  shall  be  organized ;  how 
many  schools  shall  be  kept ;  what  shall  be  the  qualifications  for 
admission  to  the  schools ;  the  age  at  which  children  may  enter ; 
the  age  to  which  they  may  continue  ; — these  must  all  be  regu- 
lated by  the  committee  under  their  power  of  general  superin- 
tendence." 

"  The  power  of  general  superintendence  vests  a  plenary  au- 
thority in  the  committee  to  arrange,  classify  and  distribute 
pupils  in  such  a  manner  as  they  think  best  adapted  to  tfieir 
general  proficiency  and  welfare.  If  they  should  judge  it  expe- 
dient to  have  a  grade  of  schools  for  children  from  seven  to  ten, 
and  another  for  those  from  ten  to  fourteen,  it  would  seem  to  be 
within  their  authority  to  establish  such  schools.  So  to  separate 
male  and  female  pupils  into  different  schools." 

"  In  the  absence  of  special  legislation  on  this  subject,  the  law 
has  vested  the  power  in  the  committee  to  regulate  this  system 
of  distribution  and  classification ;  and  when  this  power  is 
reasonably  exercised,  without  being  abused  or  perverted  by 
colorable  pretences,  the  decision  of  the  committee  must  be 
deemed  conclusive."  5  Cush.  207. 

"  The  general  school  committee  of  a  city  or  town  have  power, 
under  the  laws  of  this  Commonwealth,  in  order  to  maintain  the 
purity  and  discipline  of  the  public  schools,  to  exclude  therefrom 


CHAP.  38.]          LAWS   RELATING   TO   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS.  35 

a  child  whom  they  deem  to  be  of  a  licentious  and  immoral 
character,  although  such  character  is  not  manifested  by  any 
acts  of  licentiousness  or  immorality  within  the  school."  8  Cush . 
160. 

"  The  school  committee  has  authority,  not  subject  to  revision 
if  exercised  in  good  faith,  to  exclude  a  pupil  from  a  public 
school  for  misconduct  which  injures  its  discipline  and  manage- 
ment ;  and  the  expulsion  of  such  a  pupil  from  the  school  tiy  a 
part  of  the  committee,  unanimously  ratified  afterwards  by  the 
full  committee,  is  not  an  irregularity  in  the  exercise  of  the 
authority,  which  gives  the  pupil  a  right  of  action  against  the 
town."  105  Mass.  475. 

(SECTIONS  17  and  18.) 

[To  constitute  a  valid  election,  in  case  of  vacancy,  the  per- 
son elected  must  have  received  a  number  of  votes  equal  to  a 
majority  of  all  the  persons  entitled  to  vote.  That  is,  if  there 
were  in  a  town  five  selectmen  and  five  remaining  members  of 
the  school  committee,  there  would  be  ten  persons  entitled  to 
vote ;  and  six  votes  would  be  necessary  to  an  election,  even 
though  only  eight,  or  seven,  or  six  votes  should  be  cast.  The 
same  rule  also  applies  when,  under  the  authority  given  in  the 
eighteenth  section,  the  mayor  and  aldermen  of  a  city,  or  the 
selectmen  of  a  town,  proceed  to  elect  an  entire  board  of  school 
committee. 

An  article  "  to  choose  all  necessary  town  officers,"  is  notice 
only  of  these  elections  that  are  provided  for  by  the  standing 
laws.  Hence  it  follows  that  vacancies  occurring  after  the  war- 
rant for  the  annual  election  is  issued,  and  before  the  election 
itself  is  held,  cannot  be  filled  at  that  meeting.  In  such  case 
the  vacancy  must  be  filled  by  the  conventions  provided  for  in 
the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  sections  of  this  chapter. 

The  following  case  was  recently  submitted  to  the  depart- 
ment. The  annual  meeting  of  a  town  was  held  on  the  fifth  of 
March.  Before  the  election  of  members  of  the  school  com- 
mittee the  meeting  adjourned  to  the  first  Monday  of  April. 
About  the  twentieth  of  March  a  member  of  the  school  commit- 
tee, whose  term  would  have  expired  in  1861,  resigned.  On 
the  twenty-seventh  of  March  the  remaining  members  of  the 
committee  and  the  selectmen,  after  giving  due  notice,  elected  a 


36  LAWS    RELATING    TO   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS.          [CHAP.  38. 

person  to  fill  the  vacancy.  At  the  meeting  in  April,  it  being  an 
adjournment  of  the  March  meeting,  and  acting  under  an  article 
in  the  warrant  "to  choose  all  necessary  town  officers,"  the  town 
elected  a  different  person  to  fill  the  vacancy.  The  attorney- 
general  gave  an  opinion  that  the  election  by  the  town  was  not 
valid,  and  that  the  person  elected  in  convention  was  entitled  to 
the  seat.] 

(SECTIONS  23  and  24.) 

"  Under  Gen.  Stat.  chap.  38,  sects.  23,  24,  the  authority  and 
duty  of  the  school  committee  of  a  town  are  not  confined  to 
ascertaining  by  examination  the  literary  qualifications  of  teach- 
ers selected  by  the  prudential  committee,  and  their  capacity  for 
the  government  of  schools  ;  but  they  are  the  sole  judges  of  their 
qualifications  in  all  respects  to  teach  and  govern  the  school  for 
which  they  are  selected. 

"If  the  school  committee  of  a  town  have  refused  to  give  a 
certificate  of  qualification  to  a  person  selected  by  the  pruden- 
tial committee  of  a  school  district  as  a  teacher  of  its  school  for 
the  winter,  and  the  prudential  committee  have  given  notice  to 
the  school  committee  that  they  shall  not  employ  another  person, 
and  two  months  of  the  usual  time  of  having  a  winter  school  in 
the  district  have  elapsed,  the  school  committee  may  properly 
employ  a  teacher  and  take  possession  of  the  school-house  for 
the  purpose  of  establishing  a  school."  9  Allen,  94. 

In  Bacheldor  v.  City  of  Salem,  the  Supreme  Court  say  : — 
"The  school  committee  have  the  whole  power  to  examine  teach- 
ers, and  no  one  can  be  legally  a  teacher  in  any  public  school, 
until  he  has  received  from  the  school  committee  a  written 
certificate  of  his  qualification." 

"By  this  statute  the  committee  has  the  power,  absolutely  and 
unconditionally,  to  agree  upon  the  salaries  of  the  teachers. 
There  is  no  power  given  to  any  other  men,  or  body  of  men,  to 
contract  with  the  teachers,  and  this  power  is  given  by  the 
statute,  and  not  by  the  town  or  city." 

"  The  legislature  have  imposed  on  the  committee  the  duty  of 
seeing  to  it  that  the  public  schools  are  in  a  condition  and  of  a 
character  best  calculated  to  advance  the  improvement  and  pro- 
mote the  good  of  the  pupils.  The  character  of  the  schools 
will  depend  on  the  character  of  the  teachers,  and  the  character 


CHAP.  38.]          LAWS   KELATING   TO   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS.  37 

of  the  teachers  will  depend  on  the  compensation.  The  power 
to  fix  the  compensation  is  chiefly  intrusted  to  the  committee, 
for  the  full,  appropriate,  and  most  useful  discharge  of  their 
duties.  This  power  the  legislature,  for  the  most  satisfactory 
and  conclusive  reasons,  have  expressly  given  to  them." 

"To  say  that  the  city  is  not  bound  to  pay  according  to  the 
contract  of  the  committee,  would  be  in  effect  to  say,  that  the 
committee  had  ho  power  to  contract." 

The  reporter's  note  is  as  follows  :— "  The  power  conferred 
on  school  committees  .  .  .  to  '  select  and  contract  with 
the  teachers  for  the  town  and  district  schools '  includes  the 
power  to  fix  the  compensation  to  be  paid  them,  and  to  bind  the 
town  to  pay  the  same."  4  Gusli.  599. 

"  The  power  of  the  school  committee  to  fix  the  compensation 
of  the  teachers  of  the  schools  of  a  city,  and  bind  the  city  to  pay 
the  same,  cannot  be  controlled  by  the  city  council  except  by 
voting  to  close  the  schools  after  they  have  been  kept  open  the 
time  required  by  law." 

"  The  power  given  to  the  school  committee  to  contract  with 
teachers  necessarily  implies  and  includes  the  power  to  deter- 
mine their  salaries.  And  in  so  doing  they  are  not  restricted  to 
the  amount  appropriated  for  the  purpose  by  the  city  council. 
The  price  to  be  paid  is  as  much  a  part  of  the  contract  as  the 
individual  who  is  to  teach,  or  the  school  which  is  to  be  taught. 
The  selection  of  a  teacher  depends  very  much  upon  the  amount 
of  compensation  which  can  be  offered  to  him.  If  the  city  coun- 
cil could  establish  the  salary,  it  could  thereby  greatly  narrow 
the  range  of  choice,  or  even  indirectly  prevent  the  possibility  of 
obtaining  any  suitable  instructors.  The  city  council  have  no 
control  over  the  school  committee  in  this  respect,  except  by 
voting  to  close  a  school  after  it  has  been  kept  the  length  of 
time  required  by  law. 

"  The  school  committee  are  an  independent  body,  intrusted 
by  law  with  large  and  important  powers  and  duties ;  and, 
although  every  discretionary  power  is  liable  to  abuse,  against 
which  no  perfect  safeguards  can  be  provided,  yet  we  are  aware 
of  no  substantial  reason  for  supposing  that  the  power  of  fixing 
teachers'  salaries  is  more  liable  to  abuse  by  the  school  committee 
than  by  the  city  council.  At  all  events,  the  interpretation  of 

6 


38          LAWS  RELATING  TO  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS.    [CHAP.  38. 

the  law  to  which  we  now  adhere,  was  adopted  many  years  ago 
(vide  Batchelder  vs.  Salem,  4  Gush.  603),  and  the  legisla- 
ture has  not  seen  fit  to  change  its  provisions."  98  Mass.  587. 

(SECT.  27,  amended.) 

["The  school  committee  of  a  town  may  lawfully  pass  an 
order  that  the  schools  thereof  shall  be  opened  each  morning 
with  reading  from  the  Bible  and  prayer,  and  that  during  the 
prayer  each  scholar  shall  bow  the  head,  unless  his  parents 
request  that  he  shall  be  excused  from  doing  so  ;  and  may  law- 
fully exclude  from  the  school  a  scholar  who  refuses  to  comply 
with  such  order,  and  whose  parents  refuse  to  request  that  he 
shall  be  excused  from  doing  so."]  12  Allen,  127. 

(SECT.  29.) 

Under  this  section — "  The  school  committee  may  either  get 
the  books  on  the  credit  of  the  town,  or  may  buy  them  them- 
selves and  thereby  make  themselves  creditors  of  the  town. 
The  requisition  that  the  school  committee  shall  give  notice  of 
the  place  where  such  books  may  be  obtained,  is  substantially 
complied  with,  if  the  books  are  placed  in  the  hands  of  the 
schoolmasters,  with  notice  to  the  schools  that  they  may  be 
obtained  of  the  masters."  13  Pick.  229. 

(Amendment  to  SECT.  32.) 

The  exercise  of  the  power  given  by  this  article  makes  the 
public  schools  wholly  FREE.  So  long  as  the  poor  are  burdened 
with  the  expense  of  text-books,  the  schools  are  far  from  being 
free  schools  to  their  children.  Wherever  the  plan  has  been 
adopted,  the  results  have  been  satisfactory,  especially  in  making 
a  large  saving  of  expense  to  the  whole  town,  as  well  as  a  very 
grateful  relief  to  those  who  are  ill  able  to  meet  the  expense  of 
purchasing  books  for  their  children. 

(SECT.  38.) 

"  Selectmen,  who,  on  the  failure  of  a  school  district  to  agree 
where  to  place  their  school-house,  have  determined  the  location 
thereof,  pursuant  to  Kev.  Stat.  chap.  23,  §  30,  and  Stat.  1848, 
chap.  237,  §  1,  cannot  proceed  to  lay  out  the  land  and  assess 


CHAP.  38.]          LAWS    RELATING   TO    PUBLIC   SCHOOLS.  39 

damages  to  the  owner,  without  seven  clays'  notice  to  him  in 
writing ;  nor,  it  seems,  until  he  has  refused  to  sell  the  land  or 
demanded  an  unreasonable  price. 

"It  seems  that  the  owner  of  land  taken  for  a  school-house  lot 
under  Stat.  1848,  chap.  237,  *  in  the  same  way  and  manner  as 
is  provided  for  laying  out  town  ways,'  has  no  such  right  to 
remove  trees  or  fences  as  the  owner  of  land  taken  for  a  town 
way  has  by  Stat.  1848,  chap.  98." 

.  "It  seems  that  the  receipt,  by  the  owner  of  land  taken  for 
a  school-house  lot,  of  the  damages  awarded  him  by  the  select- 
men pursuant  to  Stat.  1848,  chap.  287,  §  1,  estops  him  to 
object  to  the  irregularity  of  their  proceedings  in  taking  the  lot." 
2  Gray,  414. 

"  Held,  that  it  is  not  a  sufficient  designation  of  land  by  the 
town  to  authorize  the  selectmen  to  select  out  of  it  a  school- 
house  lot,  under  Stat.  1848,  chap.  237. 

"It  seems  that  a  notice  that  the  selectmen,  in  accordance 
with  a  vote  of  the  town,  will,  on  a  certain  day  layout  and 
assess  damages  for  the  taking  of  a  lot  of  land,  but  not  stating 
that  it  is  for  a  school-house,  is  insufficient." 

At  a  meeting  called  "  to  see  if  the  town  will  authorize  the 
selectmen  to  select  at  their  discretion  a  school-house  lot,"  it 
was  voted,  "that  the  selectmen  be  and  they  are  hereby  author- 
ized to  select  at  their  discretion  a  school-house  lot  and  lay  out 
the  same  from  the  land  of  H.  heretofore  selected  by  the  town." 
Held,  that  this  is  not  a  sufficient  designation  of  laud  by  the 
town  to  authorize  the  selectmen  to  select  out  of  it  a  school- 
house  lot. 

"A  town  which,  against  the  owner's  will,  illegally  takes  a  lot 
of  land  for  a  school-house  lot  and  erects  a  school-house  thereon, 
.cannot  be  allowed  anything  for  imprQvements,  under  the  Rev. 
Stats,  chap.  101,  §§  19,  20."     10  Gray,  40. 

w  The  tender  of  the  appraised  value  of  land  selected  and  laid 
out  as  a  school-house  lot,  if  the  owner  lives  out  of  the  Com- 
monwealth, may  be  made  to  the  person  left  by  him  in  posses- 
sion of  the  land,  and,  who,  for  some  purposes,  is  his  agent. 
4  Allen,  508. 

"The  owner  of  land  taken  for  a  school-house  may  waive 
the  notice  and  tender  required  by  the  Gen.  Stat.  chap.  38,  § 


40 


LAWS   RELATING  TO   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS.          [CHAP.  39. 


38,  and,  on  the  trial  of  a  writ  of  entry  brought  by  him  to 
recover  the  land,  the  question  whether  he  has  done  so  is  for 
the  jury. 

w  It  is  no  defence  to  a  writ  of  entry  against  a  town,  that  the 
tenants  have  taken  the  demanded  premises  for  a  school-house 
by  virtue  of  proceedings,  under  the  Gen.  Stat.  chap.  38,  com- 
menced since  the  bringing  of  the  action."  102  Mass.  512. 


CHAPTER  39— Of  School  Districts. 


SCHOOI*  DISTRICTS. 
SECTION 

1.  Districts,  how  formed,  when  re-organized. 

2.  To  be  corporations  for  certain  purposes. 

3.  May  be  abolished,  etc. 

4.  Towns  to  vote  on  abolitions  of. 

5.  Secretary  to  notify  towns?  etc.,  to  insert 
in  warrant  concerning. 

6.  Corporate  powers  of,  to  continue  for  cer- 
tain purposes. 

7.  Prudential    committee    in    each    district. 
Duties. 

8.  May  be  chosen  by  the  districts. 

9.  To  consist  of  three  persons    in    certain 
cases. 

10.  Vacancies  in,  how  filled. 

11.  Prudential  committee,   duties    of,    to    be 
performed  by  town  committee,  when,  etc. 

12.  If  district  does  not  establish  school,  town 
committee  may,  etc. 

13.  District  meetings,    selectmen,    etc.,    may 
issue  warrants  for. 

14.  Manner  of  warning. 

15.  Districts  may  prescribe  mode  of  calling. 

16.  Clerk  to  be  chosen,  and  sworn,  keep  rec- 
ords, etc. 

17.  Liable  only  for  want  of  integrity.    Dis- 
trict, when  liable. 

18.  Districts    may    raise    money  for   school- 
houses  ;  may  fix  site. 

19.  Towns  may  provide  school-houses  at  the 
common  expense. 

20.  Selectmen  to  determine  site,  in  case,  etc. 

21.  Penalty  on  school  district  for  not  provid- 
ing school-house. 

22.  Personal  and  real  estate,  where  taxed. 

23.  Manufacturing  corporations,  where  taxed. 

24.  Non-residents,  where  taxed. 

25.  Same  subject. 


SECTION 

26.  School  taxes  assessed  like  town  taxes. 

27.  Assessors  to  issue  warrants  to  collectors. 

28.  Money  raised  to  be  at  disposal   of  com- 
mittees. 

29.  If  district  refuses  to  raise  money,  town 
may  order  it. 

30.  If  district   neglects   to    organize,  school 
committee  may  provide,  etc. 

31.  Collectors  to  proceed  as  in  collecting  town 
taxes. 

32.  Treasurer  to  have  like  powers,  etc. 

33.  Compensation  of  assessors,  etc. 

34.  Abatement  of  taxes. 

UNION  DISTRICTS. 

35.  Union  districts,  how  formed,  etc. 

36.  First  meeting.  Subsequent  meetings.    Lo- 
cation of  house. 

37.  Clerk,  how  chosen,  etc. 

38.  Assessments,  how  made. 

39.  Prudential  committees,  how  constituted. 
Powers  and  duties,  etc. 

40.  Usual  schools  maintained. 

41.  School  committees,  powers  and  duties  of. 

CONTIGUOUS  SCHOOL  DISTRICTS  IN  ADJOINING 
TOWNS. 

42.  Contiguous  districts   in  adjoining    towns 
may  unite. 

43.  Union  not  formed  without  consent  of  dis- 
tricts, etc. 

44.  United  districts  may  be  separated. 

45.  Meetings  of,  how  called. 

46.  Prudential  committee  to  be  chosen,  etc. 

47.  Money  raised,  to  be  in  proportion,  etc. 

48.  How  assessed. 

49.  School  committees  of  adjoining  towns  to 
ofliciate  in  turns. 


SECT.  1 


Districts. 
23  Pick.  70. 
4  Cush.  250. 
10  Cush.  418. 
4  Gray,  250. 
7  Gray,  411. 


Towns  may  provide  for  the  support  of  schools  without  form- 
ing school  districts  ;  or  may,  at  a  meeting  called  for  the 
purpose,  divide  into  such  districts  and  determine  the 
limits  thereof;  but  shall  not,  oftener  than  once  in  ten 
years  from  the  second  day  of  May,  eighteen  hundred 


CHAP.  39.]          LAWS   RELATING   TO   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS.  41 

and  forty-nine,  be  districted  anew  so  as  to  change  the  taxation  of  lands 
from  one  district  to  another  having  a  different  school-house. 

[The  provision  of  section  one  of  chapter  thirty-nine  of  the  General 
Statutes,  authorizing  towns  to  divide   into   school  dis-     §lnottoa    ,. 
tricts,  shall  not  be  applicable  to  any  town  which  has      igh£w"istaricu 
[abolished]  or  shall  hereafter  abolish  the  school  districts     Js^J s  3>  *• 
therein  by  virtue   of  the   provisions   of  the   third   and 
fourth  sections  of  said  chapter.] 

SECT.  2.     A  school  district  shall  be  a  body  corporate  so  far  as  to 
prosecute  and  defend  in  all  actions  relating  to  the  prop-      To  be  cor  ^ 
erty  or  affairs  of  the  district,  and  may  take  and  hold,  in      i^Jfas^ioa 
fee  simple  or  otherwise,  any  estate  real  or  personal  given      e  Met.  197, 546. 
to  or  purchased  by  the  district  for  the  support  of  a 
school  or  schools  therein. 

SECT.  3.     A  town  may,  at  any  time,  abolish  the  school  districts 
therein,  and  shall  thereupon  forthwith  take  possession  of     Ma    be  abol 
all  the  school-houses,  land,  apparatus  and  other  property     islj_ed>  e*c- 
owned  and  used  for  school  purposes,  which  such  districts      1832!  **>• 

See  §  19. 

might  lawfully  sell  and  convey.     The  property  so  taken     is  Alien,  IBS. 
shall  be  appraised  under  the  direction  of  the  town,  and 
at  the  next  annual  assessment  thereafter,  a  tax  shall  be  levied  upon 
the  whole  town,  equal  to  the  amount  of  said  appraisal ;  and  there 
shall  be  remitted  to  the  tax-payers  of  each  district  the  said  appraised 
value  of  its  property  thus  taken.     Or  the  difference  in  the  value  of 
the  property  of  the  several  districts  may  be  adjusted  in  any  other 
manner  agreed  upon  by  the  parties  in  interest. 

SECT.  4.  Every  town  divided  into  school  districts  shall,  at  the 
annual  meeting  in  the  year  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-  Towna  to  vote 
three,  and  every  third  year  thereafter,  vote  upon  the  on  abolition  of. 
question  of  abolishing  such  districts. 

SECT.  5.     The  secretary  of  the  Commonwealth,  on  the  recurrence 
of  a  year  when  the  vote  thus  required  is  to  be  had,  shall 
seasonably  notify  thereof  the  selectmen  of  the  several     notify  towns, 

J  J  etc.,  to  insert 

towns,  and  require  them,  in  towns  retaining  the  school     iQ  warrant 

concerning. 

district  system,  to  insert  an  article  in  the  warrant  for  the 
annual  meeting,  for  the  purpose  specified  in  the  preceding  section ; 
and  the  selectmen  of  any  town  who  neglect  to  insert  such  article  in 
the  warrant,  when  so  required,  shall  forfeit  twenty  dollars. 

SECT.  6.     Upon  the  abolition  or  discontinuance  of  any  district,  its 
corporate  powers  and  liabilities  shall  continue  and  re-     Co 
main  so  far  as  may  be  necessary  for  the  enforcement  of     powers  of,  to 

J  continue  for 

its  rights  and  duties  ;  and  the  property  which  it  possessed      certain  pur- 
at  the  time  shall  be  subject  to  all  legal  process  against  it.     is  Alien,  IBS. 


42 


LAWS   RELATING   TO   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS.          [CHAP.  39. 


Prudential 
committee  in 
each  district. 
Duties. 

11  Pick.  260. 
4  Gush.  599. 
8  Cush.  191. 

12  Gray,  61. 
100  Mass.  132. 


SECT.  7.  Eveiy  town  divided  into  school  districts  shall,  at  its  an- 
nual meeting,  choose  one  person,  resident  in  each  school 
district,  to  be  a  committee  for  that  district,  and  to  be 
called  the  prudential  committee,  who  shall  keep  the 
school-house  in  good  order  at  the  expense  of  the  district ; 
and  if  there  is  no  school-house,  shall  provide  a  suitable 
place  for  the  school  of  the  district  at  the  expense  thereof; 
shall  provide  fuel  and  all  things  necessary  for  the  comfort  of  the 
scholars  therein ;  give  information  and  assistance  to  the  school  com- 
mittee of  the  town  to  aid  them  in  the  discharge  of  the  duties  required 
of  them ;  and,  when  the  town  so  determines,  shall  select  and  contract 
with  an  instructor  for  each  school  in  the  district. 

SECT.  8.  If  a  town  so  determines,  the  prudential  committee  may 
be  chosen  by  the  legal  voters  of  the  several  school  dis- 
tricts to  which  they  respectively  belong,  in  such  manner 
as  the  district  directs. 

When  a  town  determines  that  the  prudential  committees 
shall  select  and  contract  with  the  school  teachers  for 
their  districts,  three  persons  in  each  district  may  be 
chosen  to  act  as  such  committee. 

When    the    office    of    prudential    committee   becomes 
vacant  in  any  district,  by  reason  of  the  death,  resigna- 
tion, or  removal  of  the  person  or  persons  elected,  such 
district  may  fill  the  vacancy  at  a  legal  meeting  called  for  the  purpose. 


Prudential 
committee, 
how  chosen. 
21  Pick.  75. 

SECT.  9. 


To  consist  of 
three  persons. 
4  Gray,  250. 


SECT.  10. 

Vacancies  in, 
how  filled. 


SECT.  11, 


When  no  prudential  committee  is  chosen  for  a  school 
district,  the  school  committee  shall  perform  all  the 
duties  of  the  prudential  commmitee. 
If  a  school  district  neglects  or  refuses  to  establish  a 
school  and  employ  a  teacher  for  the  same,  the  school 
committee  may  establish  such  school  and  employ  a 
teacher  therefor,  as  the  prudential  committee  might  have 
done. 

The  selectmen  of  the  several  towns  divided  into  school 
districts  as  aforesaid,  or  the  prudential  committee  of 
every  such  district,  upon  application  made  to  either  of 
them  respectively,  in  writing,  by  three  or  more  residents 
who  pay  taxes  in  the  district,  shall  issue  their  warrant, 
directed  to  one  of  the  persons  making  the  application,  requiring  him 
to  warn  the  inhabitants  of  such  district,  qualified  to  vote  in  town 
affairs,  to  meet  at  the  time  and  place  in  the  district  expressed  in  the 
warrant. 


Town  commit- 
tee to  act  as, 
when,  etc. 

SECT.  12. 


If  district  does 
not  establish 
schools,  town 
committee  may. 
9  Allen,  96.  " 

SECT.  13. 


District     meet- 
ings, selectmen 
etc.,  may 
warrants  for. 
8  Cush.  592. 


CHAP.  39.]         LAWS   RELATING   TO   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS.  43 

SECT.  14.     The  warning  shall  be  given  seven  days  at  least  before 
the  time  appointed  for  the  meeting,  by  personal  notice  to 
every  inhabitant  of  the  district  qualified  to  vote  in  town     ^STing.  °f 
affairs,  or  by  leaving  at  his  last  and  usual  place  of  abode 
a  written  notification,  expressing   the   time,  place  and 
purpose  of  the  meeting,  unless  the   district  prescribes 
another  mode  of  warning  its  meetings. 

SECT.  15.     A  school  district,  at  any   regular  meeting  having  an 
article  in  the  warrant  for  that  purpose,   may  prescribe     Districts  may 
the  mode  of  warning  all  future  meetings  of  the  district  ;      mode"!!?  can 
and  may  also  direct  by  whom  and  in  what  manner  such     Jjf^  213 
meetings   may   be   called.     Notwithstanding   such  pre-     ^cS^i?' 
scribed  mode,  meetings  may  nevertheless   be   called  in      8  Cueh-  ™2- 
accordance  with  the  provisions  of  the  two  preceding  sections. 

SECT.  16.     The  inhabitants  of  each  school  district,  qualified  to  vote 
in  town  affairs,  shall  choose  a  clerk,  who  shall  be  sworn    cierk    to    be 
by  the  moderator,  in  open  meeting,  or  by  a  justice  of    swonTand  keep 
the  peace  ;   make   a  fair  record  of  all  votes  passed  at    2icpick.  75.' 
meetings  of  the  district  ;  certify  the  same  when  required, 
and  hold  his  office  until  a  successor  is  chosen  and  qualified. 

SECT.  17.  The  clerk  shall  be  answerable  only  for  want  of  integrity 
on  his  own  part,  and  if  he  certifies  truly  to  the  assessors  Liable  only  for 
of  the  town  the  votes  of  the  district  for  raising,  by  a  J™*  ofintes- 
a  tax,  any  sum  of  money,  the  district  shall  be  liable  in  JJbie04'  when 
case  of  any  illegality  in  the  proceedings  in  relation  to  JJ  **j|*-  J£J- 
raising  such  money.  97  Mass-  4'24- 

SECT.  18.     The  legal  voters  of  an}'  district,  at  a  meeting  called  for 
that  purpose,  may  raise  money  for  erecting  or  repairing 
school-houses  in  their  district  ;  for  purchasing  or  hiring    raise  moneyYor 
any  buildings  to  be  used  as  school-houses,  and  land  for 


the  use  and  accommodation  thereof  ;  and  for  purchasing    Jf  Pick.  75. 
libraries  and  necessary  school  apparatus,  fuel,  furniture,    ]°J$len  205?' 
and  other   necessary   articles   for   the   use   of  schools  ; 
they  may  also  determine  in  what  part  of  their  district  such  school- 
houses  shall  stand,  and  choose  any  committee  to  carry  into  effect  the 
provisions  aforesaid. 

SECT.  19.     The  legal  voters  of  every  town  ma3r,  if  they  think  it 
expedient,  carry  into   effect  the  provisions  of  the  pre- 

Towns       may 

ceding  section  at  the  common  expense  of  the  town,  so      provide  echooi- 
far  as  relates  to  providing  school-houses  for  the  several      common     ex- 
school  districts  of  the  town  ;  and    the   town    in   such 
case  may,  at  any  legal  meeting,  raise  money  and  adopt   all  other 
proper  measures    for  this  purpose,  and,  if  already  districted,  may 


44  LAWS    RELATING    TO   PUBLIC    SCHOOLS.          [CHAP.  39. 

take  possession  of  the  school-houses  and  property  of  the  several 
districts  in  the  manner  provided  in  section  three  of  this  chapter. 

SECT.  20.  If  a  school  district  cannot  determine  by  a  vote  of  two- 
Seiectmen  to  thirds  of  the  legal  voters  present  and  voting  thereon, 
tacSSSL*1*9  where  to  place  their  school-house,  the  selectmen,  upon 
2  Gray,  414.  application  made  to  them  by  the  committee  appointed 
to  build  or  procure  the  school-house,  or  by  five  or  more  of  the  legal 
voters  of  the  district,  shall  determine  where  such  school-house  shall  be 
placed. 

SECT.  21.     A  school  district,  obliged  by  law  to  procure  a  suitable 

school-house,  shall,  for  neglecting  one  year  so  to  do,  be 

school7  district     liable  to  a  fine  not  exceeding  two  hundred  dollars,  to 

viding0  school-      be  recovered  by  indictment,  on  complaint  of  any  legal 

voter  in  said  district,  to  be  appropriated  to  the  support 

of  schools  therein. 

SECT.  22.  In  raising  and  assessing  money  in  the  several  school 
Personal  and  districts,  every  inhabitant  of  the  district  shall  be  taxed 
where  taxed?'  *u  tne  district  in  which  he  lives,  for  all  his  personal 
12^"'  it!',  estate,  and  for  all  the  real  estate  which  he  holds  in  the 
9  Gray,  433.  town,  being  under  his  own  actual  improvement ;  and  all 
other  of  his  real  estate  in  the  same  town  shall  be  taxed  in  the  district 
in  which  it  lies. 

[Nothing  contained  in  chapter  two  hundred  and  eight  of  the  acts 

of  the  year  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty -four,  or  in  chap- 

1865,  taxing  of    ter  two  hundred  and  eighty-three  of  the  acts  of  the  year 

poraSonB?  Cnot    eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-five,  shall  be  construed  to 

e?8?xei  exempt  the  owners  of  shares  in  the  capital  stock  of  any 

corporation  from  liability  to  taxation  for  school  district 

and  parish  purposes. 

SECT.  23.  In  the  assessment  of  taxes  pursuant  to  the  preceding 
Manufacture  section,  all  real  estate  and  machinery  belonging  to 
whTrTtaxTd'  manufacturing  corporations  or  establishments  shall  be 
taxed  in  the  school  districts  where  the  same  are  situated  ; 
and  in  assessing  the  shares  in  such  corporation,  or  the  personal 
estate  of  the  owners  of  such  establishments,  for  the  like  purposes, 
the  value  of  such  machinery  and  real  estate  shall  first  be  deducted 
from  the  value  of  such  shares  or  personal  estate. 

SECT.  24.  All  the  lands  within  a  town,  owned  by  the  same 
Non  residents  person  not  living  therein,  shall  be  taxed  in  the  same 

wher.  taxed.  '        district, 

SECT.  25.  When  the  estate  of  a  non-resident  owner  is  taxed,  it  may 

Same  subject  ke  taxed  in  such  district  as  the  assessors  of  the  town  de- 

QT^aBB  427"  termine  ;  and  the  assessors,  before  they  assess  a  tax  for 

100  M»SS.  134.  any  district,  shall  determine  in  which  district  the  estate 


CHAP.  39.]  LAWS    RELATING    TO    PUBLIC    SCHOOLS.  45 

of  any  such  non-resident  shall  be  taxed,  and  certify  in  writing  their 
determination  to  the  clerk  of  the  town,  who  shall  record  the  same  ;  and 
such  estate,  while  owned  by  the  same  person  resident  without  the 
limits  of  the  town,  shall  be  taxed  in  such  district  accordingly-  until  the 
town  is  districted  anew. 

SECT.  26.  The  assessors  of  the  town  shall  assess,  in  the  same  man- 
ner as  town  taxes  are  assessed,  on  the  polls  and  estates  gchool  ^^ 
of  the  inhabitants  of  each  school  district,  and  on  all  assessed  like 

town  taxes. 

estates  liable  to  be  taxed  therein  as  aforesaid,  all  money     3  Mass.  230. 

3  Oush.  567. 

voted  to  be  raised  by  the  legal  voters  of  such  district  for     i*  Pick.  362. 
the  purposes  aforesaid  ;  and  such   assessment   shall  be 
made  within  thirty  days  after  the  clerk  of  the  district  has  certified  to 
said  assessors  the  sum  voted  by  the  district  to  be  raised. 

SECT.  27.  The  assessors  shall  make  a  warrant,  substantially  in  the 
form  heretofore  used,  except  that  a  seal  shall  not  be  re-  ^^son^^ 
quired  thereto,  directed  to  one  of  the  collectors  of  the  sue  warrants  to 

collectors. 

town,  requiring  him  to  collect  the  tax  so  assessed,  and 

to  pay  the  same  to  the  treasurer  of  the  town  within  a 

time  to  be  limited  in  the  warrant ;  and  a  certificate  of  the  assessment 

shall  be  made  by  the  assessors  and  delivered  to  the  treasurer. 

SECT.  28.     The  money  so  collected  and  paid  shall  be  at  the  dis- 
posal of  the  committee  appointed  by  the  district,  to  be  by     Mone     rai 
them   applied   to   the  building  or  repairing  of  school-     to  be  at  dispos- 
houses,  or  to  the  purchase  of  buildings  to  be  used  as  such, 
or  of  land  for  their  sites,  as  before  provided,  and  accord- 
ing to  the  votes  or  directions  of  the  legal  voters  of  the  district. 

SECT.  29.  If  at  a  meeting  of  the  legal  voters  of  a  school  district 
called  for  the  purpose  of  raising  money,  a  majority  of  Jf  district  re- 
the  voters  present  are  opposed  thereto,  any  five  inhatii-  money!0  tJwa 
tants  of  the  district,  who  pay  taxes,  may  make  applica-  may  order  il< 
tion  in  writing  to  the  selectmen  of  the  town,  requesting  them  to  insert 
in  their  warrant  for  the  next  town  meeting  an  article  requiring  the 
opinion  of  the  town  relative  to  the  expediency  of  raising  such  money 
as  was  proposed  in  the  warrant  for  the  district  meeting ;  and  if  the 
majority  of  the  voters  think  the  raising  of  any  of  the  sums  of  money 
proposed  in  the  warrant  is  necessary  and  expedient,  they  may.  vote 
such  sum  as  they  think  necessary  for  said  purposes,  and  the  same  shall 
be  assessed  on  the  polls  and  estates  of  the  inhabitants  of  such  district, 
and  be  collected  and  paid  over  in  the  manner  before  provided.  They 
may  also  empower  the  selectmen  of  the  town,  or  the  school  committee, 
or  may  choose  a  committee,  to  carry  into  effect  the  purposes  for  which 
such  money  is  voted,  if  such  district  neglects  or  refuses  to  choose  a 
committee  for  that  purpose. 
7 


46  LAWS   RELATING   TO   PUBLIC    SCHOOLS.  [CHAP.  39. 

SECT.  30.  If  a  district  neglects  to  organize  by  the  choice  of  officers, 
the  money  necessary  for  the  erection,  repair,  or  enlarge- 

If  district  neg. 

lects  to  organ-  ment  of  a  school-house  therein,  may  be  expended  by 
mitteemay  pro-  order  of  the  school  committee,  and,  upon  their  certificate, 
shall  be  assessed  upon  the  polls  and  estates  of  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  district,  collected  like  other  district  taxes,  and  paid  into 
the  treasury  of  the  city  or  town. 

SECT.  31.  In  collecting  district  taxes  the  collectors  shall  have  the 
Collectors,  how  same  powers  and  proceed  in  the  same  manner  provided 

tocollecttkxes.       by  law  in  coll€Cting  town  taxes. 

SECT.  32.  The  treasurer  of  a  towa,  to  whom  a  certificate  of  the 
Treasurer,  assessment  of  a  district  tax  is  transmitted,  shall  have  the 

powers  of,  etc.  j^  authority  to  enforce  the  collection  and  payment  of 
the  money  so  assessed  and  certified,  as  he  has  in  the  case  of  money 
raised  by  the  town,  for  the  use  of  the  town. 

SECT.  33.  The  assessors,  treasurer,  and  collector,  shall  have  the 
same  compensation,  respectively,  for  assessing,  collecting 

Compensation  Y  ^ 

of    assessors,      and  paying  out  money,  assessed  for  the  use  of  a  school 
distrk-t,  as  is  allowed  by  the  town  for  like  services  in 

respect  to  town  taxes. 

SECT.  34.     The  assessors  shall  have  the  same  power  to  abate  the 

Abatement  of     tax,  or  anv  Par^  thereof,  assessed  on  an  inhabitant  of  a 
school  district,  as  they  have  to  abate  town  taxes. 

UNION  DISTRICTS! 
SECT.  35.     Two  or  more  contiguous  school  districts  in  a  town  may, 

by  a  vote  of  two-thirds  of  the  legal  voters  of  each  dis- 
union districts,    -,  .  ,  ,.  ,.  ,,  , ,    . 
how    formed,      tnct,  present  and  voting  at  legal  meetings  of  their  re-c 

spective  districts  called  for  the  purpose,  associate  and 
form  a  union  district,  for  the  purpose  of  maintaining  a  union  school  for 
the  benefit  of  the  older  children  of  such  associated  districts ;  such  district 
shall  have  the  powers,  privileges  and  liabilities  of  school  districts,  with 
such  name  as  the  district  determines  at  its  first  meeting. 

SECT.  36.  The  districts  proposing  such  association  shall,  at  the 
First  meeting.  time  of  voting  to  form  the  union,  respectively  agree  upon 
meetfngs^Vo-  tne  time,  place  and  manner  of  calling  the  first  meeting 
cation  of  house.  of  the  union  district,  which  may  from  time  to  time  deter- 
mine the  mode  of  calling  and  warning  its  meetings,  the  time  and  place 
of  its  annual  meetings,  and  the  place  where  its  school-house  shall 
stand.  The  location  of  the  school-house,  if  not  determined  by  the 
district,  shall  be  referred  to  the  selectmen,  as  provided  for  other  dis- 
tricts. 

SECT.  37.     Each  union  district,  at  its  first  meeting,  shall  choose  by 


CHAP.  39.]          LAWS   RELATING   TO   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS.  47 

ballot  a  clerk,  who  shall  be  sworn  in  the  manner,  and  perform  the 
duties,   prescribed  for  clerks  of  other   school  districts, 

Clerk,  how  cho- 

and  hold  the  office  until  a   successor  is   chosen   and    8en>  etc- 
qualified. 

SECT.  38.     In  raising  and  assessing  money  in  such  districts,  every 
inhabitant  shall  be  taxed  in  the  manner  in  which  inhabi-     Assessments, 


tants  of  other  school  districts  are  taxed,  and  the  real 

estate  of  non-resident  owners  taxable  in  either  of  the  districts  composing 

the  union  district  shall  be  taxed  in  such  districts. 

SECT.  39.  The  prudential  committees  of  the  respective  districts, 
forming  the  union  district,  shall  together  constitute  the  Prudential 
prudential  committee  of  such  district  ;  have  the  powers  how^onsutut. 
and  discharge  the  duties,  in  relation  to  the  school  and  Powers  and  du- 
school-house  of  the  district,  prescribed  to  prudential  tie8f  etc* 
committees  in  relation  to  the  schools  and  school-houses  in  their  respect- 
ive districts  :  and  determine  what  proportion  of  the  money  raised 
and  appropriated  by  the  town  for  each  of  the  districts  composing  the 
union  district  shall  be  appropriated  and  expended  in  paying  the 
instructors  of  the  union  school  ;  subject  in  all  matters  to  any  legal 
votes  of  the  union  district. 

SECT.  40.  The  public  schools  required  by  law  shall  continue  to 
be  maintained  in  each  of  the  districts  thus  associated,  as  usual  schools 
if  no  union  district  had  been  formed. 

SECT.  41.  The  school  committee  shall  have  the  powers  and  duties 
in  relation  to  such  union  school  which  they  have  in  rela-  school  com- 
tion  to  other  district  schools.  SJ^Sd  duS 

of. 
[Amendment.] 

[Any  two  or  more  contiguous  school  districts  in  any  town  in  this- 
Commonwealth,  may  be  united  and  form  one  school  dis-     Contj 
trict  :  provided,  that  at  a  legal  town  meeting  held  for     Jji^018    majr 
that  purpose,  a  majority  of  the  voters  present  and  voting     161«  132- 
thereon  shall  be  in  favor  of  such  union. 

SECT.  2.  Such  school  district  when  formed,  shall  have  all  the 
powers,  privileges,  and  be  subject  to  the  liabilities,  of  Privilegea  an(J 
school  districts  under  the  law  of  this  Commonwealth.]  restrictions. 

CONTIGUOUS    SCHOOL   DISTRICTS   IN   ADJOINING   TOWNS. 

SECT.  42.     If  two  or  more  contiguous  school  districts  in  adjoining 
towns  are  too  small  to  maintain  schools  advantageously      ContiguoU9 
in  each,  such  districts  may  unite  and  form  one  district,      districts  in  ad- 

joining    towns- 

with  the  powers,  privileges,  and  liabilities  allowed  or     may  unite. 
prescribed  in  'regard  to  school  districts. 


48  LAWS    RELATING   TO   PUBLIC    SCHOOLS.  [CHAP.  39. 

SECT.  43.  No  districts  shall  be  so  united,  unless  the  legal  voters  of 
union  not  each,  at  legal  meetings  called  for  the  purpose,  agree 
ou™ce<HJsent!tof  thereto ;  nor,  unless  the  respective  towns,  at  legal  town 
districts,  etc.  meetings  called  for  the  purpose,  assent  to  the  same  ;  and 
when  such  vote  is  passed  by  a  school  district,  the  clerk  thereof  shall 
forthwith  send  a  certified  copy  to  the  clerk  of  his  town. 

SECT.  44.  When  the  voters  in  such  united  district,  at  a  legal  meet- 
ing called  for  the  purpose,  deem  it  expedient  to  separate 

United         dis-  ji  4  •  * 

tricts  may  be  and  again  form  two  or  more  districts,  they  may  do  so, 
first  obtaining  the  consent  of  the  respective  towns. 

SECT.  45.  The  first  meeting  of  such  united  district  shall  be  called 
Meetin  *n  ^ie  manner  &greed  upon  by  the  respective  districts  at 

how  called.  the  time  of  forming  the  union  ;  and  such  district  may, 
from  time  to  time  thereafter,  prescribe  the  mode  of  calling  and  warn- 
ing its  meetings  as  other  school  districts  may  do. 

SECT.  46.  Such  district,  at  the  first  meeting  and  annually, thereafter, 
Prudential  s^a^  cnoose  a  prudential  committee,  who  shall  receive 

committee  to  an(|  expend  the  money  raised  and  appropriated  in  each 

be  chosen,  etc. 

town  for  the  united  district,  and  possess  the  powers  and 
discharge  the  duties  allowed  or  prescribed  to  the  prudential  committees 
of  other  districts.  v 

SECT.  47.     The  legal  voters  of  a  united  district  shall,  at  the  time 

of  voting  to  raise  such  money,  determine  the  amount  to 
to  be  in  pro.  be  paid  by  the  inhabitants  in  each  town,  which  shall  be 

portion,  etc.  .  , .  ,,     .  ^-111  j 

in  proportion  to  their  respective  polls  and  estates  ;  and 
the  clerk  of  the  district  shall  certify  such  vote  to  the  assessors  of  each 
of  said  towns. 

SECT.  48.  All  money  duly  voted  to  be  raised  by  any  such  united 
Mone  how  District  shall  be  assessed  by  the  assessors  of  the  respect- 
aeeeesed.  jve  towns  upon  the  polls  and  estates  of  the  inhabitants 

of  the  district,  and  collected,  as  taxes  are  assessed  and  collected  in 
other  school  districts. 

SECT.  49.  The  respective  school  committees  of  the  towns  from 
mittees  of^u!  wm,ch  such  united  district  is  formed  shall  discharge  the 
J°ini^ .  t°wns  duties  of  school  committee  for  the  district  in  alternate 

to   officiate    in 

turn8-  years,  commencing  with  the  most  ancient  town. 

[Amendments.— Chap.  255, 1865.] 

[SECT.  1.  United  school  districts,  in  adjoining  towns,  may  be  sep- 
May  act  when  arated  by  vote  of  such  towns,  whenever  said  towns  shall 
Seen8  agrS  navc  determined  by  mutual  agreement,  upon  the  appraised 
upon.  value,  and  mode  of  disposition  of  the  property  of  such 

district,  and  the  proportion  of  said  appraised  value  to  which  each  part 
of  said  district  shall  be  entitled. 


CHAP.  39.]          LAWS   RELATING   TO   PUBLIC    SCHOOLS.  49 

SECT.  2.     Upon  such  separation,  the  property  of  the  united  district 
shall  become  vested  in  accordance  with  said  previous 
agreement ;  and  the  town  or  school  district  which  shall  take 
possession  thereof,  shall  be  held  to  pay  to  the  other  town 
for  the  benefit  of  the  school  district  therein,  such  sum 
or  sums  of  money,  and  at  such  times,  as  shall  be  determined  by  said 
previous  agreement. 

SECT.  3.     In  case  either  town  shall  have  abolished  the  other  school 
districts  therein,   the   proportion   of  the   value   of  the 
property  of  such  united  district,  to  which  the  separate     ing  other  dis- 
district  in  such  town  would  be  entitled  on  such  separation,     men? under  gQ. 
shall  be  adjusted,  as  far  as  may  be  practicable,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  provisions  of  section  three  of  chapter  thirty-nine  of 
the  General  Statutes. 

SECT.  4.     Either  town  may  cause  any  school  district  therein,  which 
forms  part  of  any  such  united  district,  to  be  separated      Division   ma 
therefrom,  without  the  agreement  provided  for  in  section     b?   made    by 
one:  provided,- that  all  the  interest  of  such  district  in 
the  school-houses  and  other  property  owned  and  used  by  such  united 
district  for  school  purposes,  shall  be  relinquished,  and  shall,  upon 
such  separation,  become  vested  in  the  remaining  portions  of  such 
united  district ;  and  provided,  further ',  that  the  interest  of  such  district 
in  such  school-houses  and  property,  shall  not  be  relinquished  without 
the  consent  of  such  districts.] 

The  foregoing  chapter  relates  exclusively  to  what  is  known 
in  our  school  history  as  the  w  School  District  System,"  and  has 
no  force  except  in  some  fifty  small  towns  in  which  that  system 
still  exists.  The  Acts  of  1869,  1870  and  1873,  in  relation  to 
the  abolition  of  said  system  and  its  partial  restoration  in  the 
towns  above  referred  to,  are  also  printed  herewith. 

CHAPTER  110. — AN  ACT  to  abolish  the  School  District  System. 
Be  it  enacted,  &c.,  as  follows  : 

SECT.  1.  The  school  district  system  in  this  Commonwealth  is 
hereby  abolished. 

SECT.  2.  Each  town  in  which  the  district  system  now  exists  shall 
forthwith  take  possession  of  all  the  school-houses,  land,  apparatus 
and  other  property  owned  and  used  by  the  several  school  districts 
therein,  which  said  districts  might  lawfully  convey,  and  shall  appraise 
the  same,  levy  a  tax  therefor  and  remit  said  tax  in  the  manner  pro- 
vided by  section  third,  chapter  thirty-nine  of  the  General  Statutes  : 
provided,  that  the  appraisal  of  the  school  property  in  any  district  or 
the  amount  to  be  remitted,  shall  not  exceed  the  sum  that  has  been 


50  LAWS    RELATING   TO   PUBLIC    SCHOOLS.  [CHAP.  39. 

actually  raised  by  taxation  in  such  district  for  such  property  ;  and 
provided,  further,  that  any  money  or  property,  held  in  trust  by  virtue 
of  any  gift,  devise  or  bequest,  for  the  benefit  of  any  school  district 
now  existing,  shall  hereafter  continue  to  be  held  and  used  in  the 
same  manner,  and  for  the  same  purpose,  according  to  the  terms 
thereof. 

SECT.  3.  The  corporate  powers  and  liabilities  of  any  school 
district  abolished  by  this  act,  shall  continue  and  remain  for  the  pur- 
poses expressed  in  section  six,  chapter  thirty-nine  of  the  General 
Statutes. 

SECT.  4.  All  acts  and  parts  of  acts,  inconsistent  with  this  act,  are 
hereby  repealed. 

SECT.  5.  This  act  shall  take  effect  upon  its  passage.  [Approved 
March  24,  1869. 


CHAPTER  423. — AN  ACT  in  addition  to  an  Act  to  abolish  the  School  District 

System. 
Be  it  enacted,  &c,,  as  follows: 

SECT.  1.  Union  districts  and  contiguous  school  districts  in  adjoin- 
ing towns  are  hereb}r  abolished. 

SECT.  2.  Each  town  in  which  any  school-house  belonging  to  such 
union  or  contiguous  district  is  located  shall  forthwith  take  possession 
of  the  same,  with  the  land,  apparatus,  and  other  property  owned  and 
used  by  such  district. 

SECT.  3.  The  boards  of  selectmen  of  the  several  towns  out  of 
which  any  such  union  or  contiguous  districts  are  formed,  shall  forth- 
with appraise  the  said  property,  and  shall  determine  what  proportion 
thereof  is  owned  by  the  inhabitants  of  said  several  towns  residing  in 
said  district.  If  the  said  several  boards  of  selectmen  shall  not  agree 
in  their  said  appraisal,  or  apportionment,  the  same  shall  be  determined 
by  the  county  commissioners  for  the  county  in  which  either  one  of 
said  towns  is  located  to  whom  application  is  first  made,  and  the 
decision  of  said  county  commissioners  shall  be  final. 

SECT.  4.  Whenever  any  town  shall  take  possession  of  said  prop- 
erty a  tax  shall  at  the  next  annual  assessment  thereafter  be  levied 
upon  the  whole  town,  equal  to  the  amount  of  said  appraisal ;  and 
there  shall  be  remitted  to  the  tax-payers  of  such  district,  in  said  town, 
the  proportion  of  the  appraised  value  belonging  to  them ;  and  the 
proportion  belonging  to  the  inhabitants  of  any  town  in  which  said 
property  is  not  located  shall  be  paid  to  the  treasurer  of  such  town, 
and  the  same  shall  be  remitted  to  the  tax-payers  of  said  town  belong- 
ing to  said  district. 

SECT.  5.  Section  two  of  chapter  one  hundred  and  ten  of  the  acts 
of  the  present  year  is  hereby  amended  by  striking  therefrom  the 


CHAP.  39.]          LAWS   RELATING   TO   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS.  51 

words  "  provided  that  the  appraisal  of  the  school  property  in  any 
district,  or  the  amount  to  be  remitted,  shall  not  exceed  the  sum  that 
has  been  actually  raised  by  taxation  in  such  district  for  such  prop- 
erty.*' 

SECT.  6.  Towns  in  which  school  districts  have  been  abolished 
under  the  provisions  of  this  act,  and  the  act  to  which  this  act  is 
in  addition,  or  during  the  present  year,  under  the  provisions  of  section 
three  of  chapter  thirty-nine  of  the  General  Statutes,  shall  respectively 
assume  and  pay  all  the  debts  and  liabilities  of  such  districts,  and  the 
amount  of  such  debts  and  liabilities  shall  be  deducted  from  the  amount 
to  be  remitted  by  such  town. 

SECT.  7.  The  provisions  of  section  five  of  this  act  shall  not  apply 
to  any  town  that  has  already  taken  possession  of  its  school  district 
property  and  appraised  the  same,  under  the  provisions  of  chapter  one 
hundred  and  ten  of  the  acts  of  the  present  year,  unless  such  town 
shall  vote  to  re-appraise  such  property  at  a  meeting  duly  held  for  that 
purpose. 

SECT.  8.  This  act  shall  take  effect  upon  its  passage.  [Approved 
June  21,  1869. 

CHAPTER  196. — AN  ACT  to  authorize  Towns  to  reestablish  the  School  District 

System. 
Be  it  enacted,  <fcc.,  as  follows: 

SECT.  1.  Any  town  in  which  the  school  district  system  was 
abolished  by  chapter  one  hundred  and  ten,  or  by  chapter  four  hundred 
and  twenty-three,  of  the  acts  of  the  year  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty- 
nine,  may  at  a  meeting  called  for  the  purpose,  within  two  years  from 
the  passage  of  this  act,  by  a  vote  of  two-thirds  of  the  legal  voters, 
present  and  voting  thereon,  reestablish  such  school  districts. 

SECT.  2.  School  districts  reestablished  under  the  provisions  of  the 
first  section  of  this  act,  shall  possess  corporate  rights  and  powers, 
and  be  subject  to  liabilities  the  same  as  before  they  were  abolished. 

SECT.  3.  When  any  town  votes  to  reestablish  its  school  districts 
under  the  provisions  of  this  act,  all  school  district  property  appraised 
and  taken  under  the  provisions  of  chapter  one  hundred  and  ten,  or 
chapter  four  hundred  and  twenty-three  of  the  acts  of  the  }'ear  eighteen 
hundred  and  sixty-nine,  which  is  still  in  the  possession  of  the  town 
and  used  for  public  school  purposes,  may  forthwith  be  re-appraised 
under  the  direction  of  the  town  and  restored  to  said  districts.  And 
at  the  next  annual  assessment  thereafter,  a  tax  shall  be  levied,  and 
paid  into  the  treasury  of  the  towns,  upon  each  district,  equal  to  the 
amount  of  the  appraised  value  of  its  property  thus  restored,  or  the 
public  school  property  may  be  divided  among  the  several  districts, 
and  adjusted  in  any  other  manner  agreed  upon  by  the  town  at  a  legal 


52  LAWS    RELATING    TO    PUBLIC    SCHOOLS.          [CHAP.  39. 

meeting  :  provided,  nothing  in  this  act  shall  be  construed  to  require  an 
appraisal  of  school  property  in  towns  where  the  school  district  prop- 
erty has  not  been  taken,  appraised,  and  the  value  thereof  remitted  to 
the  several  districts  as  provided  by  law. 

SECT.  4.  This  act  shall  take  effect  upon  its  passage.  [Approved 
April  22,  1870. 

By  virtue  of  the  last  Act,  chap.  196,  1870,  between  fifty  and 
sixty  towns  voted  to  "  reestablish  the  school  districts  therein." 

In  three  instances  controversies  have  arisen  which  have  been 
adjudged  by  the  supreme  judicial  court.  Two  of  them  relate 
to  the  form  and  effect  of  the  vote  on  the  restoration  of  the 
districts ;  and  the  other  to  the  manner  of  recording  such  vote. 

The  opinions  given  in  said  cases  are  as  follows  : — 

"A  vote  of  a  town,  passed  after  the  Stat.  of  1870,  chap.  196, 
that  the  school  district  system  be  reestablished,  and  that  the 
appraisement  of  the  property  of  the  school  districts,  made  in 
1869,  be  the  appraisement  thereof  of  1870,  is  a  reestablishment 
of  the  school  districts  of  the  town  as  they  were  before  they 
were  abolished  by  the  Stat.  of  1869,  chap.  110;  and  a  school 
district  which  had  united,  under  the  Gen.  Stat.  chap.  39,  sect. 
42,  with  a  contiguous  district  in  an  adjoining  town,  which  had 
not  voted  to  reestablish  the  district  system,  is  revived  with  the 
others  as  a  school  district  of  the  town,  as  it  was  before  the 
union."  108  Mass.  106. 

"At  a  meeting  called  to  consider  whether  a  town  would 
reestablish  the  school  district  system  and  choose  the  officers 
required  in  that  event,  it  voted  to  reestablish  the  system,  and 
appointed  a  prudential  committee  man  for  each  former  district. 
Held,  that  this  was  a  sufficient  reestablishment  under  the  Stat. 
of  1870,  chap.  96,  of  the  former  school  districts,,  which  have 
been  abolished  by  the  Stat.  of  1869,  chap.  110." 

In  delivering  the  above  opinion,  Ames,  J.,  says :  "This  case 
is  perhaps  stronger  than  that  (108  Mass.  106)  above  cited,  for 
the  reason  that  the  article  in  the  warrant  gave  notice  to  the 
inhabitants  of  Barnstable  that  they  were  to  act  on  the  subject  of 
reestablishing  the  school  district  system  in  the  town  under  this 
statute,  and  to  choose  such  officers  as  might  be  required  in  case 
the  town  should  vote  to  return  to  the  district  system.  Under 
this  article  they  might  well  proceed,  as  they  did,  to  choose  the 
prudential  committee  for  each  district."  109  Mass.  128. 


CHAP.  40.]          LAWS   RELATING   TO   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS.  53 

"If  the  records  of  a  town  fail  to  show  that  a  vote  to 
reestablish  the  school  district  system  therein  was  a  two-thirds 
vote,  parol  evidence  is  not  admissible  to  show  that  it  was." 
110  Mass.  214. 

Other  questions,  perhaps  more  difficult  to  be  resolved,  are  likely 
to  arise,  relating  to  the  extent  or  the  "  corporate  rights  and  powers  " 
and  the  "liabilities"  of  the  districts,  as  named  in  the  second 
section  of  said  Act ;  and  also  as  to  the  rights,  powers  and  duties 
of  the  tovms  in  which  the  school  districts  have  been  restored. 

The  attention  of  the  attorney-general  having  been  called  to 
this  matter,  he  gave  an  opinion  to  the  effect  that  the  provisions 
of  law  relating  to  the  rights  and  duties  of  towns  in  which  the 
district  system  existed  were  repealed  by  section  5  of  chapter 
110,  above  recited,  and  that  the  Act,  chap.  196  of  1870,  did 
not  revive  said  provisions ;  and  therefore  that  towns  in  which 
the  school  districts  had  been  restored,  had  no  power  to  abolish 
the  same.  Influenced  by  this  opinion,  and  in  response  to  the 
petition  of  one  of  the  towns  in  Essex  County,  the  legislature 
passed  the  following  Act. 

CHAP.  95. — AN  ACT  to  enable  Towns  to  abolish  the  School  District  System. 
Be  it  enacted,  &c.,  as  follows: 

SECT.  1.  Any  town  in  which  the  school  district  system  now  exists 
may  abolish  the  same,  by  vote,  at  a  town  meeting  called  for  the  pur- 
pose ;  and  such  town  shall  thereafter  be  subject  to  the  provisions  of 
chapters  one  hundred  and  ten  and  four  hundred  and  twenty-three  of 
the  acts  of  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-nine. 

SECT.  2.  This  act  shall  take  effect  upon  its  passage.  [Approved 
March  15,  1873. 

Several  towns  have  abolished  their  school  districts  by  virtue 
of  the  power  thus  granted,  as  the  most  direct  and  effective 
method  of  relief  from  difficulty  and  embarrassment. 


CHAPTER  40 — Of  School  Registers  and  Returns. 


SECTION 


1.  Town  clerks  to  deliver  registers,  etc.,  to 
school  committee. 

2.  If  not  received. 

3.  Duties  of  assessors  as  to  persons  between 
five  and  fifteen. 

4.  —  of  school  committee  ;  form  of  certificate. 

5.  Registers  to  be  kept  ;  returns. 

6.  Committees'  report;  to  whom  sent;  where 
deposited  ;  to  be  printed. 

7.  When  report  is  not  made. 


SECTION 

8.  When  informal,  etc. 

9.  Penalty  for  neglect,  or  informal,  etc.,  report. 

10.  Reports,  etc.,  of  board  of  education,  how 
received,  delivered,  and  for  what  purpose. 
In  whom  property  of. 

11.  Who  to  sign  reports. 

12.  Penalty  on  committee  for  neglect  in  re- 
turns, etc. 

13.  Registers,  how    kept.     Teachers    not    to 
draw  pay  until  return  of  register. 


54          LAWS  RELATING  TO  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS.    [CHAP.  40. 

SECT.  1.  The  clerks  of  the  several  cities  and  towns,  upon  receiving 
Town  clerks  to  ^rom  ^e  secretary  of  the  board  of  education  the  school 
ter6iveretcregito  registers  and  blank  forms  of  inquiry  for  school  returns, 
mittee  c°m"  s^a^  deliver  them  to  the  school  committee  of  such  cities 

and  towns. 

SECT.  2.     If  a  school  committee  fails  to  receive  such  blank  forms  of 
return  on  or  before  the  last  day  of  March,  they  shall 
forthwith  notify  the  secretary  of  the  board  of  education, 
who  shall  transmit  such  forms  as  soon  as  may  be. 

[Substituted  for  Sections  3  and  4.] 

SECT.  1 .  [The  school  committees  shall  annually,  in  the  month  of 

Duties  of  school  ^av>  ascertain,  or  cause  to  be  ascertained,  the  names 

committees  as  an(j  ages  of  all  persons  belonging  to  their  respective 

tween  5  and  15  towns  and  cities  on  the  first  day  of  May,  between  the 

years.  J  J  ' 

1874,  303.  ages  of  five   and  fifteen   years,   and    make    a    record 

thereof. 

SECT.  2.  The  school  committee  shall  annually,  on  or  before  the  last 
day  of  the  following  April,  certify  under  oath,  the  numbers  so  ascer- 
tained and  recorded,  and  also  the  sum  raised  by  such  city  or  town  for 
the  support  of  schools  during  the  preceding  school  year,  including 
only  wages  and  board  of  teachers,  fuel  for  the  schools,  and  care  of 
the  fires  and  school-rooms,  and  they  shall  transmit  such  certificate  to 
the  secretary  of  the  board  of  education.  The  form  of  such  certificate 
shall  be  as  follows,  to  wit : — 


We,  the  school  committee  of  ,  do  certify  that  on  the  first  day  of 

May,  in  the  year  ,  there  were  belonging  to  said  town  the  number  of 

persons  between  the  ages  of  five  and  fifteen ;  and  we  further  certify 
that  said  town  raised  the  sum  of  dollars,  for  the  support  of  public 

schools  for  the  preceding  school  year,  including  only  the  wages  and  board 
of  teachers,  fuel  for  the  schools  and  care  of  fires  and  school-rooms ;  and 
that  said  town  maintained,  during  said  year,  each  of  the  schools  required 
to  be  kept  by  the  first  section  of  the  thirty-eighth  chapter  of  the  General 
Statutes  for  a  period  not  less  than  six  months ;  and  we  further  certify  that 
said  town  maintained  during  said  year  school  for  the  benefit  of  all 

the  inhabitants  of  the  town  as  required  by  section  two  of  chapter  thirty- 
eight  of  the  General  Statutes  for  months  and  days. 

\School  Committee. 

[88.] 

On  this  day  of  personally  appeared  the  above  named  school 

committee  of  and  made  oath  that  the  above  certificate  by  them  sub- 

scribed, is  true.  Before  me,  Justice  of  the  Peace.'] 


CHAP.  40.]          LAWS   RELATING   TO   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS.  55 

In  the  returns  made  by  the  school  committee  to  the  20  da  s  or  40 
secretary  of  the  board  of  education,  twenty  days  or  forty  ^n'tl?78  °ne 
half-days  of  actual  session  shall  be  counted  as  one  month.  1865» 142- 

SECT.  5.     The  school  committee  shall  cause  the  school  registers  to 
be  faithfully  kept  in  all  the  public   schools,  and   shall      Re  .gters 
annuall}7  on  or  before  the  last  day  of  April,  return  the      returns. 
blank  forms  of  inquiry,  duly  filled  up,  to  the  secretary  of     Seech.38,§2o. 
the  board  of  education  ;  and  shall  also  specify  in  said  returns  the  pur- 
poses to  which  the  money  received  by  their  town  or  city  from  the 
income  of  the  school  fund  has  been  appropriated. 

SECT.  6.  The  school  committee  shall  annually  make  a  detailed 
report  of  the  condition  of  the  several  public  schools,  committees' re- 
which  report  shall  contain  such  statements  and  sugges-  JS;\Siered™ 
tions  in  relation  to  the  schools  as  the  committee  deem  JSnted.'  to  be 
necessary  or  proper  to  promote  the  interests  thereof.  fion*  ^sw20* 
The  committee  shall  cause  said  report  to  be  printed  for  101  Mas*- u*- 
the  use  of  the  inhabitants,  in  octavo,  pamphlet  form,  of  the  size  of  the  an- 
nual reports  of  the  board  of  education,  and  transmit  two  copies  thereof 
to  the  secretary  of  said  board,  on  or  before  the  last  day  of  April,  and 
deposit  one  copy  in  the  office  of  the  clerk  of  the  city  or  town. 

SECT.  7.  When  a  school  committee  fails  within  the  prescribed  time 
to  make  either  the  returns  or  reports  required  of  them 
by  law,  the  secretary  of  the  board  of  education  shall 
forthwith  notify  such  committee,  or  the  clerk  of  the  city  2ch.38,§20. 
or  town,  of  such  failure  ;  and  the  committee  or  clerk  shall  immediately 
cause  the  same  to  be  transmitted  to  the  secretary. 

SECT.  8.  If  a  report  or  return  is  found  to  be  informal  or  incorrect, 
the  secretary  shall  forthwith  return  the  same,  with  a 

When  informal, 

statement  of  all  deficiencies  therein,  to  the  committee     etc. 

Seech.  38, §20. 

for  its  further  action. 

SECT.  9.  The  returns  or  reports  of  a  city  or  town  so  returned  by 
the  secretary  for  correction,  or  which  have  not  reached  penaity  for 
his  office  within  the  time  prescribed  by  law,  shall  be  ?0er^at'etc,in~ 
received  by  him  if  returned  during  the  month  of  May ;  report 
but  in  all  such  cases  ten  per  cent,  shall  be  deducted  from  the  income 
of  the  school  fund  which  such  city  or  town  would  have  been  otherwise 
entitled  to.  If  such  returns  or  reports  fail  to  reach  his  office  before 
the  first  day  of  June,  then  the  whole  of  such  city  or  town's  share  of 
the  income  shall  be  retained  by  the  treasurer  of  the  Commonwealth, 
and  the  amount  so  retained,  as  well  as  the  ten  per  cent,  when  de- 
ducted, shall  be  added  to  the  principal  of  the  school  fund.  And  such 
city  or  town  shall  in  addition  thereto  forfeit  not  less  than  one  hundred 
nor  more  than  two  hundred  dollars  :  provided,  however,  if  said  returns 
and  reports  were  duly  mailed  in  season  to  reach  such  office  within  the 


56 


LAWS    RELATING    TO   PUBLIC    SCHOOLS.  [CHAP.  40. 


Reports,  etc., 
of board  of edu- 
cation, how 
received, 
delivered,  and 
for  what  pur- 

In  whom  prop- 
erty of. 


time  required  by  law,  then  the  city  or  town  from  which  said  returns  or 
reports  are  due  shall  be  exempt  from  the  forfeiture  otherwise  incurred. 
SECT.  10.  The  clerk  of  each  city  and  town  shall  deliver  one  copy 
of  the  reports  of  the  board  of  education  and  its  secretary 
to  the  secretary  of  the  school  committee  of  the  city  or 
town,  to  be  by  him  preserved  for  the  use  of  the  com- 
mittee, and  transmitted  to  his  successor  in  office ;  and 
two  additional  copies  of  said  reports,  for  the  use  of  said 
committee ;  and  shall  also  deliver  one  copy  of  said 
reports  to  the  clerk  of  each  school  district,  to  be  by  him  deposited  in 
the  school  district  library,  or,  if  there  is  no  such  library,  carefully  kept 
for  the  use  of  the  prudential  committee,  teachers  and  inhabitants  of 
the  district,  during  his  continuance  in  office,  and  then  transmitted  to 
his  successor  ;  and  in  case  the  city  or  town  shall  not  be  districted,  said 
reports  shall  be  delivered  to  the  school  committee,  and  so  deposited 
by  them  as  to  be  accessible  to  the  several  teachers  and  to  the  citizens  ; 
and  such  reports  shall  be  deemed  to  be  the  property  of  the  town  or 
city,  and  not  of  any  officer,  teacher,  or  citizen,  thereof. 

SECT.  1 1 .     When  the  school  committee  of  a  city  or  town  is  not  less 

Who  to  sign  re-      than  thirteen   in   number,   the   chairman  and  secretary 

thereof  may,   in   behalf    of   the    committee,  sign    the 

annual  school  returns  and  the  certificate  required  by  sections  four  and 

five. 

A  city  or  town  which  has  forfeited  any  part  of  its 
portion  of  the  income  of  the  school  fund  through  the 
failure  of  the  school  committee  to  perform  their  duties 
in  regard  to  the  school  report  and  school  returns,  may 
withhold  the  compensation  of  the  committee. 

SECT.  13.  The  several  school  teachers  shall  faithfully  keep  the 
registers  furnished  to  them,  and  make  due  return  thereof 
to  the  school  committee,  or  such  person  as  they  may 
designate,  and  no  teacher  shall  be  entitled  to  receive 
payment  for  services  until  the  register,  properly  filled  up 
and  completed,  shall  be  so  returned. 


SECT.  12. 

Penalty  on 
committee  for 
neglect  in 
returns,  etc. 


Registers,  how 
kept.  Teachers 
not  to  draw 
pay  until 
return  of 
register. 
2  Allen,  592. 


[Chap.  123,  1867.] 

[SECT.  1.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  trustees,  officers,  or  persons 
in  charge  of  all  institutions  of  learning,  whether  literary, 
scientific  or  professional,  incorporated,  supported  or 
aided  by  this  Commonwealth  ;  of  all  'reform  schools  and 
almshouses ;  of  all  private  educational  institutions ; 
also,  of  all  agents,  guardians  or  treasurers  to  whom 
appropriations  shall  be  made  for  the  support  of  schools 
among  the  Indians  of  this  Commonwealth,  whether  by 


Officers  of 
institutions  of 
learning, 
reform  and 
charity,  and  of 
Indian  schools, 
to  report  annu- 
ally on  June 
1st,  to  board  of 
education. 
1867, 123. 


CHAP.  40.]          LAWS   RELATING   TO    PUBLIC    SCHOOLS.  57 

general  statute  or  special  resolve,  on  or  before  the  first  day  of  June  in 
each  }rear,  to  make  a  report  in  writing  to  the  board  of  education,  at 
the  office  of  the  secretary,  of  such  statistics  of  the  several  institutions 
or  schools  under  their  charge,  relating  to  the  number  of  pupils  and 
instructors,  courses  of  study,  cost  of  tuition  and  the  general  condition 
of  said  institution  or  school,  as  said  board  shall  prescribe. 

SECT.  2.     The   board  of  education  shall   prepare  blank  forms  of 
inquiry  for  such  statistics  as  they  shall  deem  expedient     Board  to  sup 
to  require,  and  shall  cause  the  same  to  be  sent  to  each  of     Sefofi?ITenth  °r 
said  institutions  or  schools,  on  or  before  the  tenth  day  of     May- 
May  in  each  year.     In  preparing  said  forms,  reference  shall  be  had  to 
the  requirements  of  the  national  bureau  of  education  recently  created 
by  the  general  government.] 

[Substitute  for  Sections  3  and  4.] 

No  more  important  duty  is  laid  upon  the  scbool  committee  than 
that  prescribed  by  the  first  section  of  this  substitute.  If  properly 
discharged,  two  results  will  follow  :  First,  the  census  will  be  far 
more  full  and  accurate  than  heretofore  ;  and  second,  the  commit- 
tee, who  are  charged  with  the  duty  of  enforcing,  through  the  aid 
of  thetruant  officers,  the  laws  relating  to  school  attendance,  will 
have  in  their  own  hands  a  complete  knowledge  of  the  persons  and 
facts,  necessary  to  the  proper  discharge  of  their  duties. 

I  respectfully  recommend  that  the  census  be  taken  by  the 
truant  officers,  who  are  appointed  by  the  school  committee, 
whenever  the  committee  cannot  take  it  personally.  Also,  that 
it  be  taken  by  districts,  and  that  papers  be  prepared  for  taking 
it  which  shall  be  so  ruled  as  to  give  separate  columns  :  First, 
for  the  parent's  name  ;  second,  for  the  names  of  the  children  in 
the  order  of  age;  third,  for  the  age  of  each;  and,  fourth,  for 
any  general  remarks ;  to  wit,  whether  attending  school  or  not, 
what  the  pursuit  of,  etc. 

These  should  be  copied — "  recorded  " — in  a  book  properly 
prepared,  and  the  census  for  each  district  given,  with  the 
school  register,  to  each  teacher  who  has  charge  of  a  school.  So 
doing,  the  means  will  be  always  at  hand  to  ascertain  who  are 
attending  the  school  and  who  are  the  absentees. 

It  should  be  noticed  that  the  enumeration  is  required  of  all 
"  belonging  to  the  town"  thereby  excluding  all  transient  resi- 
dents, whether  for  purposes  of  work  or  attendance  upon  acade- 
mies, etc. 


58 


LAWS   RELATING   TO   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS.          [CHAP.  41. 


(SECT.  6.) 

"  A  town  may  appropriate  money  to  indemnify  its  school  com- 
mittee for  expenses  incurred  in  defending  an  action  for  an 
alleged  libel  contained  in  a  report  made  by  them  in  good  faith 
and  in  which  judgment  has  been  rendered  in  their  favor." 

"  A  warrant  for  a  town  meeting  '  to  hear  the  report  of  any 
committee  heretofore  chosen,  and  pass'any  vote  in  relation  to 
the  same,'  is  sufficient  to  enable  the  meeting  to  vote  sums 
recommended  by  a  committee  appointed  at  a  former  meeting, 
the  warrant  for  which  fully  set  forth  the  business  to  be  brought 
before  it."  11  Gray,  340. 

"A  school  committee  of  a  city  caused  to  be  printed  an 
address  by  them  to  the  people  of  the  city  regarding  an  occur- 
rence in  the  public  schools,  and  referred  to  such  address  in 
their  subsequently  printed  annual  report  as  a  part  thereof. 
Held,  that  they  were  authorized  to  charge  the  expense  of  print- 
ing the  address  upon  the  city,  by  the  Gen.  Stats,  chap.  40,  §  6, 
directing  them  to  make  annually  a  report  of  the  condition  of 
the  schools  and  cause  it  to  be  printed  for  the  use  of  the  inhabi- 
tants." 101  Mass.  142. 

(SECT.    13.) 

"  A  teacher  of  a  district  school  cannot  recover  payment  for 
his  services  until  he  has  filled  up  and  completed  the  register  of 
the  school  kept  by  him,  in  compliance  with  the  requirement  of 
Stat.  1849,  chap.  209 ;  and  the  school  committee  of  the  town 
have  no  power  to  waive  a  performance  of  this  duty  by  him." 
2  Allen,  592. 


CHAPTER  41. — Of  the  Attendance  of  Children  in  the  Schools. 


SECTION 

1.  Children  to  be  sent  to  school  by  parents, 
etc.      Penalty   for  neglect.     Excuses  for 
neglect. 

2.  Truant  officers  and  school  committee  to 
inquire  and  report. 

3.  All  children  may  attend  where  they  reside. 

4.  School  committee  to  regulate  admission, 
etc.,  to  high  school. 

5.  Children  may  attend  in  adjoining  town, 
and  committee  pay  for  instruction. 


SECTION 

6.  Wards  may  attend  where  guardian  resides. 

7.  Children  may  attend  in  other  towns  than 
place  of  parents'  residence,  and   parents 
pay,  etc. 

8.  Children  not  to  attend  unless  vaccinated. 

9.  Race,  etc.,  not  to  exclude. 

10.  Teachers  and  school  committee  to  state 
grounds  of  exclusion. 

11.  Damages  for  exclusion,  how  recovered. 

12.  Interrogatories  to  committee,  etc. 


CHAP.  41.]         LAWS   RELATING   TO   PUBLIC    SCHOOLS.  59 

[Substituted  for  Sections  1  and  2.] 

[Every  person  having  under  his  control  a  child  between  the  ages 
of  eight  and  fourteen  years,  shall  annually  cause  such 
child  to  attend  some  public  day  school  in  the  city  or 
town  in  which  he  resides,  at  least  twenty  weeks  ;  which 
time  shall  be  divided  into  two  terms  each  of  ten  consec-  874'  233' 
utive  weeks  so  far  as  the  arrangement  of  school  terms  will  allow  ; 
and  for  every  neglect  of  such  duty  the  party  offending  shall  forfeit  to 
the  use  of  the  public  schools  of  such  city  or  town  a  sum 
not  exceeding  twenty  dollars  ;  but  if  the  party  so  neg-  nlgiecf.  EX- 
lecting,  was  not  able,  by  reason  of  poverty,  to  send  such 
child  to  school,  or  such  child  has  attended  a  private  day  school, 
approved  by  the  school  committee  of  such  city  or  town  for  a  like 
period  of  time  ;  or  is  regularly  attending  a  public  or  private  day 
school,  known  as  a  half-time  school,  also  approved  by  them,  or  that 
such  child  has  been  otherwise  furnished  with  the  means  of  education 
for  a  like  period  of  time,  or  has  already  acquired  the  branches  of 
learning  taught  in  the  public  schools  ;  or  if  his  physical  or  mental  con- 
dition is  such  as  to  render  such  attendance  inexpedient  or  impractica- 
ble, the  penalty  before  mentioned  shall  not  be  incurred  :  provided,  that 
no  objection  shall  be  made  by  the  school  committee  to  any  such  school 
on  account  of  the  religious  teaching  in  said  school.] 

[SECT.  2.     The  truant  officers  and  the  school  committee  of  the  sev- 
eral  cities  and  towns  shall  vigilantly   inquire  into  all 
cases  of  neglect  of  the  duty  prescribed  in  the  preceding     to^ufre  and 
section,  and  ascertain  the  reasons  if  any  therefor  ;  and     pro 
such  truant  officers,  or  any  of  them,  shall,  when  so  directed  by  the 
school  committee,  prosecute,  in  the  name  of  the  city  or  town,  any 
person  liable  to  the  penalty  provided  for  in  the  preceding  section. 

Justices  of  police  of  district  courts,  trial  justices,  trial  justices  of 
juvenile  offenders,  and  judges  of  probate  shall  have  juris- 
diction within  their  respective  counties  of  the  offences     to  have'  juris-' 

.,      -,  .      ,  ,  .  ,   -i  diction. 

described  in  this  act.] 

SECT.  3.  All  children  within  the  Commonwealth  may  attend  the 
public  schools  in  the  place  in  which  they  have  their  legal  Children  to  at- 
residence,  subject  to  the  regulations  prescribed  by  law.  they  reside. 

SECT.  4.  The  school  committee  shall  determine  the  number  and 
qualifications  of  the  scholars  to  be  admitted  into  the  Admisssion  to 
school  kept  for  the  use  of  the  whole  town.  how  regulated. 

SECT.  5.  Children  living  remote  from  any  public  school  in  the  town 
in  which  they  reside,  may  be  allowed  to  attend  the  pub- 

•*  Children    may 

lie  schools  in  an  adjoining  town,  under  such  regulations,      ?"®      "*  ~" 


and  on  such  terms,  as  the  school  committees  of  the  said     and  committee 

pay  for  mstruc- 

towns  agree  upon  and  prescribe  ;  and  the  school  commit- 
tee  of  the  town  in  which  said  children  reside  shall  pay 


60 


LAWS    RELATING    TO    PUBLIC   SCHOOLS.          [CHAP.  41. 


Towns       may 
raise  money  to 
convey,  etc. 
1869,  132. 

SECT.  6. 

Wards,   where 
may  attend. 

SECT.  7. 


Children  may 
attend  in  other 
towns  than 
place  of  pa- 
rents' resi- 
dence, and  pa- 
rents pay,  etc. 
103  Mass.  104. 


out  of  the  appropriations  of  money  raised  in  said  town  for  the  support 

of  schools  the  sum  agreed  upon. 

SECT.  1.  [Any  town  in  this  Commonwealth  may  raise  by  taxation 
or  otherwise,  and  appropriate  money  to  be  expended  by 
the  school  committee  in  their  discretion,  in  providing  for 
the  conveyance  of  children  to  and  from  the  public  schools.] 
Minors  under  guardianship,  their  father  having  deceased, 
may  attend  the  public  schools  of  the  city  or  town  in  which 
their  guardian  is  an  inhabitant. 

With  the  consent  of  school  committees  first  obtained, 
children  [without  limitation  as  to  age,  1873,  292]  may 
attend  schools  in  cities  and  towns  other  than  those  in 
which  their  parents  or  guardians  reside  ;  but  whenever  a 
child  resides  in  a  city  or  town  different  from  that  of  the 
residence  of  the  parent  or  guardian,  for  the  sole. purpose 

of  attending  school  there,  the  parent  or  guardian  of  such  child  shall  be 

liable  to  pay  to  such  city  or  town,  for  tuition,  a  sum  equal  to  the 

average  expense  per  scholar  for  such  school  for  the  period  the  child 

shall  have  so  attended. 

SECT.  8.  The  school  committee  shall  not  allow  any  child  to  be 
admitted  to  or  connected  with  the  public  schools,  who 
has  not  been  duly  vaccinated. 

No  person  shall  be  excluded  from  a  public  school  on  ac- 
count of  the  race,  color,  or  religious  opinions,  of  the 
applicant  or  scholar. 

Every  member  of  the  school  committee  under  whose 
directions  a  child  is  excluded  from  a  public  school,  and 
every  teacher  of  such  school  from  which  a  child  is 
excluded,  shall,  on  application  by  the  parent  or  guardian 

of  such  child,  state  in  writing  the  grounds  and  reason  of  the  exclusion. 
SecT.  11.  A  child  unlawfully  excluded  from  any  public  school 
shall  recover  damages  therefor  in  an  action  of  tort, 
to  be  brought  in  the  name  of  such  child  by  his  guardian 
or  next  friend  against  the  city  or  town  by  which  such 
school  is  supported. 

The  plaintiff  in  such  action  may,  by  filing  interrogato- 
ries for  discovery,  examine  any  member  of  the  school 
committee,  or  any  other  officer  of  the  defendant  city  or 

town,  as  if  he  were  a  party  to  the  suit. 


Children  to  be 
vaccinated. 

SECT.  9. 

Color,  etc.,  not 
to  exclude. 
12  Allen,  127. 

SECT.  10. 


Teachers,  etc., 
to  state  grounds 
of  exclusion. 


Damages     for 
exclusion. 
8  Gush.  160. 
7  Gray,  245. 
12  Allen,  129. 
See  ch.  38,  §  16, 
and  notes. 

SECT.  12. 

Interrogatories 
to  committee, 
etc. 


[Substituted  for  Sections  1  and  2.] 

[The  present  law  contemplates  that  each  child  shall  receive 
as  much  training  as  may  be  given  between  the  ages  of  eight 


CHAP.  41.]          LAWS    RELATING   TO   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS.  61 

and  fourteen  years,  by  his  attendance  upon  a  public  school 
twenty  weeks  each  year,  each  ten  weeks  of  the  twenty  to  be 
consecutive. 

At  most,  this  period  is  brief  for  the  accomplishment  of  so  im- 
portant a  work  as  the  training  of  a  human  being  for  the  responsi- 
bilities of  life ;  and  hence  the  imperative  nature  of  the  duty 
resting  upon  truant  officers  and  committees  in  regard  to  the 
enforcement  of  the  law.  It  is  not  to  be  assumed  that  the  legal 
rights  of  children  in  the  schools  are  limited  to  the  period  when 
they  are  between  eight  and  fourteen  years  of  age,  or  even  to  the 
period  between  five  and  fifteen;  for  it  cannot  be' doubted  that 
youth  under  twenty-one  years  of  age  are  entitled  to  the  benefits 
of  the  public  schools,  while  committees  may  exercise  a  discretion 
in  excluding  those  who  are  not  physically  and  intellectually 
qualified,  even  though  they  are  more  than  five  years  of  age.  It 
is  not  sufficient  for  committees  and  truant  officers  to  wait  for 
information  to  bo  given  to  them  of  neglect  of  duty  by  parents 
and  guardians ;  but  they  should  discover  and  inquire  into  all  such 
cases,  and  pursue  the  delinquents  according  to  the  requirements 
of  law.  In  no  other  way  can  we  save  portions  of  society  from 
the  "  barbarism "  which  our  ancestors  would  not  suffer.  It 
generally  happens  that  those  families  which  are  most  indifferent 
to  the  education  of  the  children  in  the  schools,  have  the  fewest 
means  of  educating  them  under  the  domestic  roof.] 

(SECT.  5.) 

"The  town  having  raised  money,  pursuant  to  law,  for  the 
support  of  schools  within  the  town,  had  no  authority  to  vote  that 
a  portion  of  it  should  be  refunded  to  an  individual,  to  be 
expended  in  another  town,  or  for  any  other  purpose.  It  would 
disturb  the  harmony  of  the  public  school  system,  and  is  not 
warranted  by  law."  Shaw,  C.  J.,  in  Withington  v»  The 
Inhabitants  of  Harvard,  8  Gush.  67. 

(SECT.  7.) 

"  Towns  and  cities  are  not  authorized  by  law  to  open  their 
schools  to  children  whose  parents  or  guardians  reside  in-  another 
State  ;  and,  if  they  do  so,  no  promise,  express  or  implied,  of  the 
parents  or  guardians,  to  pay  for  the  tuition,  can  be  enforced. 


LAWS    RELATING    TO    PUBLIC    SCHOOLS.  [CHAP.  42. 


"The  provisions  of  the  Gen.  Stat.  chap.  41,  §  7,  that,  with 
the  consent  of  the  school  committee  first  obtained,  children 
between  certain  ages  may  attend  school  in  towns  or  cities  other 
than  those  where  their  parents  or  guardians  reside,  apply  only 
to  children  whose  parents  or  guardians  reside  in  Massachusetts." 
Inhabitants  of  Haverhill  v.  John  G.  Gale,  103  Mass.  104. 

CHAPTER    42 — Of   the    Employment    of   Children    and    Regulations 

Respecting  Them. 


SECTIONS  OF  SUBSTITUTED  CHAPTER. 

1.  Children  under  ten  not  to  be  employed, 
nor  under  fifteen,  unless,  etc. 

2.  Children  under  fifteen  not  to  be  employed 
over  sixty  hours  a  week. 

3.  Penalty. 

4.  State  constable  to  enforce,  etc. 


SECTIONS  OF  SUBSTITUTED  CHAPTER. 

1.  Cities  and  towns  to  make  by-laws  respect- 
ing habitual  truants. 

2.  School  committees  to  appoint  truant  offi- 
cers, and  fix  their  compensation. 

3.  Penalty,  etc. 

4.  Officers  having  jurisdiction. 

5  and  6.  County  commissioners,— when  to 
establish  places  of  confinement,  etc. 

7.  State  primary  school  at  Monson  may  be 
assigned. 


[Chap.  285,  1867,  substituted  for  Sections  1,  2  and  3  of  this  Chapter.] 


[SECT.  1, 


Child  under  10 
years  shall  not 
be  employed, 
nor  under  15, 
unless,  etc. 


No  child  under  the  age  of  ten  years  shall  be  employed 
in  any  manufacturing  or  mechanical  establishment  within 
this  Commonwealth,  and  no  child  between  the  age  of  ten 
and  fifteen  years  shall  be  so  employed,  unless  he  has 
attended  some  public  or  private  day  school  under 
teachers  approved  by  the  school  committee  of  the  place  in  which  such 
school  is  kept,  at  least  three  months  during  the  year  next  preceding 
Proviso  sucln  employment :  provided,  said  child  shall  have  lived 

within  the   Commonwealth   during    the    preceding   six 
months ;  nor  shall  such  employment  continue  unless  such  child  shall 
attend  school  at  least  three  months  in  each  and  every 

(Shall  so  attend  * 

day  .  year  ;  and  provided,  that  tuition  of  three  hours  per  day 
in  a  public  or  private  day  school  approved  by  the  school 
committee  of  the  place  in  which  such  school  is  kept,  during  a  term  of 
six  months,  shall  be  deemed  the  equivalent  of  three  months'  attendance 
at  a  school  kept  in  accordance  with  the  customary  hours  of  tuition  ; 
and  no  time  less  than  sixty  days  of  actual  schooling  shall  be  accounted 
as  three  months,  and  no  time  less  than  one  hundred  and  twenty  half- 
days  of  actual  schooling  shall  be  deemed  an  equivalent  of  three 
months. 

No  child  under  the  age  of  fifteen  years  shall  be  employed 
in  any  manufacturing  or  mechanical  establishment  more 
than  sixty  hours  in  one  week. 

SECT.  3.     Any  owner,  agent,  superintendent  or  over- 
seer of  any  manufacturing  or  mechanical  establishment,  who  shall 


school,  time  in, 
how  construed. 


SECT.  2. 


Child  under  15 
not  to  work 
over  60  hours  a 
week. 


CHAP.  42.]          LAWS   RELATING   TO    PUBLIC    SCHOOLS.  63 

knowingly  employ  or  permit  to  be  employed  any  child  in  violation  of 
the  preceding  sections,  and  any  parent  or  guardian  who      penalt 
allows  or  consents  to  such  employment,  shall,  for  such     9  Met-  562« 
offence,  forfeit  the  sum  of  fifty  dollars. 

SECT.  4.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  constable  of  the  Common- 
wealth to  specially  detail  one  of  his  deputies,  to  see  that  State  conetabie 
the  provisions  of  this  act,  and  all  other  laws  regulating  to  enforce  and 
the  employment  of  children  or  minors  in  manufacturing  emor. 
or  mechanical  establishments,  are  complied  with,  and  to  prosecute 
offences  against  the  same  ;  and  he  shall  report  annually  to  the  governor 
all  proceedings  under  this  act  ;  and  nothing  in  this  section  shall  be  so 
construed  as  to  prohibit  any  person  from  prosecuting  such  offences.] 

[Substituted  for  Sections  4,  6,  6,  7  and  8  of  this  Chapter.] 
[SECT.  1.     Each  city  and  town  shall  make  all  needful  provisions  and 
arrangements  concerning  habitual  truants  and  children     1873  262 
between  the  ages  of  seven  and  fifteen  years  who  may  be     By-laws    re- 

-  Bpecting  habit- 

found  wandering  about  in  the  streets  or  public  places  of  uaitruant«,etc. 
such  city  or  town,  having  no  lawful  occupation  or  business,  not  attend- 
ing school,  and  growing  up  in  ignorance  ;  and  shall  also  make  such 
b}T-laws  as  shall  be  most  conducive  to  the  welfare  of  such  children, 
and  to  the  good  order  of  such  city  or  town  ;  and  shall  provide  suitable 
places  for  the  confinement,  discipline  and  instruction  of  such  children  : 
provided,  that  said  by-laws  shall  be  approved  by  the  superior  court,  or 
a  justice  thereof,  or  by  the  judge  of  probate  of  the  county. 

SECT.  2.     The  school  committee  of  the  several  cities  and  towns 
shall  appoint  and  fix  the  compensation  of  two  or  more 
suitable  persons,  to  be  designated  as  truant  officers,  who 


shall,  under  the  direction  of  said  committee,  inquire  into      compensation8.' 

all  cases  arising  under  such  by-laws,  and  shall  alone  be      10Allen'149- 

authorized,  in  case  of  violation  thereof,  to  make  complaint  and  carry 

into   execution  the  judgment  thereon,  [and  may  serve       g 

all  legal  processes  issued  by  the  courts  in  pursuance  of 

[this]  act,  but  shall  not  be  entitled  to  or  receive  any  fees  therefor.] 

SECT.  3.     Any  minor  convicted  under  such  by-law  of  being  an  hab- 
itual truant,  or  of  wandering  about  in  the  streets  and 

,  ,.          ,  .,  ,  i        /•  i        Minor  convict- 

public  places  of  any  city  or  town,  having  no  lawful  edmaybecom- 
employment  or  business,  not  attending  school  and  grow- 
ing up  in  ignorance,  shall  be  committed  to  any  institution  of  instruction 
or  suitable  situation  provided  for  the  purpose  under  the  authority  of 
section  one,  of  this  act,  or  by  law,  for  such  time,  not  exceeding  two 
years,  as  the  justice  or  court  having  jurisdiction  may  determine.  Any 
minor  so  committed  may,  upon  proof  of  amendment,  or  for  other 
sufficient  cause  shown  upon  a  hearing  of  the  case,  be  discharged  by 
such  justice  or  court. 


64  LAWS   RELATING   TO   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS.          [CHAP.  42. 

SECT.  4.  Justices  of  police  or  district  courts,  trial  justices,  trial 
having'  JU&  justices  of  juvenile  offenders,  and  judges  of  probate 
Bee1?1?  of  this  shall  ^ave  jurisdiction  within  their  respective  counties, 
»ationrof  "d?611"  °^  tne  on"ences  described  in  this  act. 

SECT.  5.  When  three  or  more  cities  or  towns  in  any  county  shall 
so  require,  the  county  commissioners  shall  establish  at 

County      com-  . 

missioners,  convenient  places  therein,  other  than  the  jail  or  house  of 
vide  a  place  of  correction,  at  the  expense  of  the  county,  truant  schools, 
for  the  confinement,  discipline  and  instruction  of  minor 
children  convicted  under  the  provisions  of  this  act,  and  shall  make 
suitable  provisions  for  the  government  and  control  of  said  schools,  and 
for  the  appointment  of  proper  teachers  and  officers  thereof. 

SECT.  6.  Any  city  or  town  may  assign  any  such  truant  school  as 
the  place  of  confinement,  discipline  and  instruction  for  persons  con- 
victed under  the  provisions  of  this  act ;  and  shall  pay  such  sum  for 
the  support  of  those  committed  thereto  as  the  county  commissioners 
shall  determine,  not  exceeding  the  rate  of  two  dollars  per  week  for 
each  person. 

SECT.  7.  Any  city  or  town  may,  with  the  assent  of  the  board  of 
Ma  be  sent  to  state  cnarities>  assign  the  state  primary  school  at  Monson 
state  primary  as  the  place  of  confinement,  discipline  and  instruction 

school  at  Mon- 

«°n-  for  persons  convicted  under  the  provisions  of  this  act, 

instead  of  the  truant  schools  heretofore  mentioned  ;  and  shall  pay  for 
the  support  of  such  persons  committed  thereto,  such  sum  as  the  in- 
spectors of  said  school  shall  determine,  not  exceeding  two  dollars  per 
week  for  each  person.  Any  minor  so  committed,  may,  upon  satisfac- 
tory proof  of  amendment,  or  for  other  sufficient  cause,  be  discharged 
by  the  board  of  state  charities.] 

[Section  3  of  Chapter  285.] 

w  A  corporation  is  not  liable  to  the  penalty  imposed  by  Stat. 
1840,  chap.  60,  §  3,  on  the  owner,  agent  or  superintendent  of 
a  manufacturing  establishment,  for  employing  children  under 
the  age  of  twelve  years  in  laboring  more  than  ten  hours  in  a  day 
in  such  establishment."  9  Met.  562. 

The  Care  and  Education  of  Neglected  Children. 

[Chap.  283, 1866.] 

[SECT.  1.     Each  of  the  several  cities  and  towns  in  this   Common- 
wealth is  hereby  authorized  and  empowered  to  make  all 

'Towns       may 

provide      for      needful  provisions  and  arrangements  concerning  children 

children         of 

drunken    and     under  sixteen  years  of  age,  who  by  reason  of  the  neglect, 

vicious  parents.  °  .     ' 

crime,  drunkenness  or  other  vices  of  parents,  or  from 
orphanage,  are  suffered  to  be  growing  up  without  salutary  parental 


CHAP.  42.]          LAWS   RELATING   TO   PUBLIC    SCHOOLS.  65 

control  and  education,  or  in  circumstances  exposing  them  to  lead  idle 
and  dissolute  lives  ;  and  may  also  make  all  such  by-laws  and  ordi- 
nances respecting  such  children,  as  shall  be  deemed  most  conducive  to 
their  welfare  and  the  good  order  of  such  city  or  town  :  provided,  that 
said  by-laws  and  ordinances  shall   be  approved  by  the 
superior  court,  or  in  vacation  by  a  justice-  thereof,  and 
shall  not  be  repugnant  to  the  laws  of  the  Commonwealth. 

SECT.  2.    The  mayor  and  aldermen  of  cities  and  the  selectmen  of 
towns  availing  themselves  of  the  provisions  of  this  act 
shall  severally  appoint  suitable  persons  to  make  com- 


plaints  in  case  of  violations  of  such  ordinances  or  by-laws 

as  may  be  adopted,  who  alone  shall  be  authorized  to  make  complaints 

under  the  authority  of  this  act. 

SECT.  3.  When  it  shall  be  proved  to  any  judge  of  the  superior 
court,  or  judge  or  justice  of  a  municipal  or  police  court, 
or  to  any  trial  justice,  that  any  child  under  sixteen  years  justice  °r  may 
of  age,  by  reason  of  orphanage  or  of  the  neglect,  crime,  Jpwn  °inSitiu 
drunkenness  or  other  vice  of  parents,  is  growing  up 
without  education  or  salutary  control,  and  in  circumstances  exposing 
said  child  to  an  idle  and  dissolute  life,  any  judge  or  justice  aforesaid, 
shall  have  the  power  to  order  said  child  to  such  institution  of  instruc- 
tion or  other  place  that  may  be  assigned  for  the  purpose,  as  provided 
in  this  act,  by  the  authorities  of  the  city  or  town  in  which  such  child 
may  reside,  for  such  term  of  time  as  said  judge  or  justice  may  deem 
expedient,  not  extending  beyond  the  age  of  twenty-one  years  for 
males,  or  eighteen  years  for  females,  to  be  there  kept,  educated  and 
cared  for  according  to  law. 

SECT.  4.  Whenever  it  shall  be  satisfactorily  proved  that  the  parents 
of  any  child  committed  under  the  provisions  of  this  act, 
shall  have  reformed  and  are  leading  orderly  and  indus-  mayenbY  dS 
trious  lives,  and  are  in  a  condition  to  exercise  salutary 
parental  control  over  their  children,  and  to  provide  them  with  proper 
education  and  employment  ;  or  whenever  said  parents  being  dead,  any 
person  may  offer  to  make  suitable  provision  for  the  care,  nurture  and 
education  of  such  child  as  will  conduce  to  the  public  welfare,  and  will 
give  satisfactory  security  for  the  performance  of  the  same,  then  the 
directors,  trustees,  overseers  or  other  board  having  charge  of  the  insti- 
tution to  which  such  child  may  be  committed,  may  discharge  said  child 
to  the  parents  or  to  the  part}'  making  provision  for  the  care  of  th« 
child  as  aforesaid.] 


66  LAWS    RELATING    TO   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS.          [CHAP.  42. 


Penalty  for  Disturbing  Schools,  etc. 

[Gen.  Stat.,  Chap.  165,  Sect.  23.] 

SECT.  23.  Whoever  wilfully  interrupts  or  disturbs  any  school  or 

Disturbance  of  otlier  assemblj  of  people  met  for  a  lawful  purpose,  shall 

pu^nc8  meeu  ^e  Punislied  ty  imprisonment  in  the  jail  not  exceeding 

ingfl-  thirty  days,  or  by  fine  not  exceeding  fifty  dollars. 

This  statute  "  includes  meetings  assembled  for  the  discussion 
of  the  subject  of  temperance;  and  also,  it  seems,  political 
gatherings,  meetings  for  amusement,  and  all  public  meetings 
held  for  lawful  purposes."  1  Gray,  476. 

[Chap.  279,  Acts  of  1874.] 

No  license  shall  be  granted  by  the  mayor  and  aldermen  or  select- 
men of  any  city  or  town  for  any  exhibition  mentioned  in  section 
seventy-four  of  chapter  eighty-eight  of  the  General  Statutes  at  which 
children  under  the  age  of  fifteen  years  are  employed  as  acrobats,  con- 
tortionists or  in  any  feats  of  gymnastics  or  equestrianism. 

NORMAL   SCHOOLS. 

[Chap.  70,  Resolves  of  1838.] 

WHEREAS,  by  letter  from  the  Honorable  Horace  Mann,  secretary  of 
the  board  of  education,  addressed  on  the  twelfth  of  March  current,  to 
the  president  of  the  senate  and  speaker  of  the  house  of  representa- 
tives, it  appears,  that  private  munificence*  has  placed  at  his  disposal 
the  sum  of  ten  thousand  dollars  to  promote  the  cause  of  popular  edu- 
cation in  Massachusetts,  on  condition  that  the  Commonwealth  will 
contribute,  from  unappropriated  funds,  the  same  amount  in  aid  of  the 
same  cause,  the  two  sums  to  be  drawn  upon  equally,  from  time  to 
time,  as  needed,  and  to  be  disbursed  under  the  direction  of  the  board 
of  education  in  qualifying  teachers  for  the  common  schools  ;  therefore 

Resolved,  That  his  excellency  the  governor  is  hereby  authorized,  by 
and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  council,  to  draw  his  warrant 
upon  the  treasurer  of  the  Commonwealth,  in  favor  of  the  board  of 
education,  for  the  sum  of  ten  thousand  dollars,  in  such  instalments, 
and  at  such  times  as  said  board  may  request :  provided,  that  said 
board,  in  their  request,  shall  certify  that  the  secretary  of  said  board 
has  placed  at  their  disposal  an  equal  amount  to  that  for  which  such 
application  may  be  made  by  them ;  both  sums  to  be  expended  under 
the  direction  of  said  board,  in  qualifying  teachers  for  the  common 
schools  in  Massachusetts. 

*  Of  Hon.  Edmund  Dwight. 


CHAP.  42.]          LAWS   RELATING    TO   PUBLIC    SCHOOLS.  67 

Resolved,  That  the  board  of  education  shall  render  an  annual 
account  of  the  manner  in  which  said  moneys  have  been  by  them 
expended. 

[Chap.  49,  Resolves  of  1853.] 

Resolved,  That  the  board  of  education  be,  and  they  are  hereby 
authorized  to  establish  a  state  normal  school  at  some  suitable  place  in 
the  county  of  Essex,  and  that  the  sum  of  six  thousand  dollars  be,  and 
the  same  is  hereby  appropriated  from  the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands  or 
the  school  fund,  according  to  the  provisions  of  the  act  of  the  year  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  forty-six,  chapter  219,  to  defray  the 
expense  of  providing  a  site,  of  erecting  or  purchasing  a  suitable 
building,  and  furnishing  the  necessary  appurtenances  and  apparatus 
for  said  school ;  and  that  the  same  be  expended  for  that  purpose  under 
the  direction  of  the  board  of  education,  upon  whose  requisition  the 
governor  is  hereby  authorized  to  draw  his  warrants  upon  the  treasury 
to  the  amount  aforesaid. 

Resolved,  That  the  board  of  education  be,  and  they  are  hereby 
authorized  to  purchase  and  receive  grants  of  land  in  the  name  of  the 
Commonwealth,  and  in  suitable  quantity,  for  the  site  of  said  building 
and  the  accommodation  of  said  school ;  and  that,  before  selecting  said 
site,  they  be  directed  to  receive  propositions  from  towns  or  individ- 
uals in  said  county  of  Essex,  in  aid  of  the  object  of  these  resolves, 
and  afterwards  to  make  such  selection  as  will  in  their  opinion  best 
subserve  the  interests  and  accommodate  the  wants  of  said  school. 

[Chap.  79,  Resolves  of  1871.] 

Resolved,  That  the  board  of  education  are  hereby  authorized  and 
required  to  establish  a  state  normal  school  in  the  city  of  "Worcester, 
and  that  the  sum  of  sixty  thousand  dollars  is  hereby  appropriated  to 
defray  the  expenses  of  erecting  a  suitable  building  and  furnishing  the 
necessary  appurtenances  and  apparatus  for  said  school,  and  that  the 
same  be  expended  under  the  direction  of  the  board  of  education,  upon 
whose  requisition  the  governor  is  hereby  authorized  to  draw  his 
warrant  for  the  amount  aforesaid  to  be  paid  from  the  school  fund  : 
provided,  that  the  deficit  of  income  of  the  school  fund  occasioned  by 
such  payment  shall  be  deducted  from  the  moiety  of  the  income  of  said 
fund  applicable  to  educational  purposes,  in  such  manner  as  not  to 
affect  the  amount  to  be  apportioned  and  distributed  for  the  support  of 
public  schools. 

Resolved,  That  the  trustees  of  the  Worcester  Lunatic  Hospital  are 
hereby  authorized  and  required  to  convey  to  the  board  of  education 
and  its  successors,  in  trust  for  the  Commonwealth,  a  tract  of  land 
situated  in  said  city  of  Worcester  of  not  more  than  five  acres,  to  be 
located  by  the  governor  and  council,  east  of  a  line  drawn  one  hundred 


68  LAWS    RELATING    TO   PUBLIC    SCHOOLS.  [CHAP.  42. 

and  seventy  feet  east  of  the  easterly  line  of  Mulberry  Street,  and 
north  of  a  line  drawn  five  hundred  feet  south  of  the  southerly  line  of 
Prospect  Street,  when  extended  east  as  proposed :  and  west  of  the 
westerly  line  of  Wilmot  Street,  when  extended  southerly  as  proposed  ; 
the  conveyance  of  said  land  to  include  a  right  of  way  thereto  from 
East  Central  Street,  the  location  whereof  shall  be  determined  and  fixed 
by  the  governor  and  council,  if,  in  their  opinion,  said  right  of  way  is 
necessary  and  desirable. 

Resolved,  That  the  city  of  Worcester  is  hereby  authorized  to  lay 
out  and  extend  Prospect  Street,  from  its  present  easterly  terminus  to 
its  intersection  with  the  proposed  line  of  the  prolongation  of  Wilmot 
Street ;  also  to  extend  Wilmot  Street  southerly  to  the  proposed  inter- 
section with  the  extension  of  Prospect  Street,  and  from  that  point 
southerly  to  East  Central  Street. 

Resolved,  That  the  value  of  said  land  shall  be  determined  and  fixed 
by  the  governor  and  council,  and  the  amount  shall  be  credited  by  the 
treasurer  of  the  Commonwealth  to  the  fund  created  by  the  provisions 
of  section  four  of  chapter  two  hundred  and  thirty-eight  of  the  acts  of 
the  year  eighteen  hundred  and  seventy. 

Resolved,  That  the  city  council  of  the  city  of  Worcester  may  raise 
by  taxation  or  otherwise,  the  sum  of  fifteen  thousand  dollars,  and  may 
pay  the  same  to  the  board  of  education  for  the  purposes  named  in 
these  resolves  :  provided,  that  these  resolves  shall  not  take  effect  until 
the  city  of  Worcester  or  the  inhabitants  thereof  shall  have  paid  to 
the  board  of  education  the  sum  of  fifteen  thousand  dollars  to  aid  in 
the  erection  and  furnishing  of  the  building  for  said  school. 

[Chapters  47  and  61,  Resolves  of  1873.] 

Resolved,  That  there  be  allowed  and  paid  out  of  the  treasury  the 
sum  of  seventy-five  hundred  dollars  for  the  expenses  of  a  state  normal 
art-school,  the  same  to  be  expended  under  the  direction  of  the  board 
of  education. 

Resolved,  That  the  sergeant-at-arms  with  the  consent  and  approval 
of  the  commissioners  on  the  state  house  be  authorized  to  assign  the 
rooms  on  the  third  floor  of  the  house  number  thirty-three  Pemberton 
Square,  to  the  board  of  education  for  the  use  of  the  State  Normal 
Art-School. 

In  accordance  with  the  foregoing  Resolves,  normal  schools 
were  established  as  follows  : — 

The  first  at  Lexington,  which  was  opened  July,  1839  ;  trans- 
ferred to  West  Newton,  September,  1844  ;  and  to  Framingham 
in  1853.  It  receives  as  pupils  only  females. 


CHAP.  42.]          LAWS    RELATING    TO   PUBLIC    SCHOOLS.  69 

The  second  was  opened  at  Barre,  September,  1839 ;  was 
suspended  in  1841 ;  and  recommenced  at  Westfield,  September, 
1844,  and  receives  both  sexes. 

The  third  was  opened  at  Bridgewater,  September,  1840,  and 
admits  pupils  of  both  sexes. 

The  fourth  was  established  at  Salem,  and  opened  September, 
1854,  and  is  for  females  only. 

The  school  at  Worcester  was  opened  September,  1874.  It 
admits  pupils  of  both  sexes. 

The  Normal  Art-School  was  opened  October,  1873. 

Course  of  Study  in  the  Normal  Schools. 

The  design  of  the  Normal  Schools  is  strictly  professional ; 
that  is,  to  prepare,  in  the  best  possible  manner,  the  pupils  for  the 
work  of  organizing,  governing  and  instructing  the  public  schools 
of  the  Commonwealth. 

To  this  end  there  must  be  the  most  thorough  knowledge  : 
first,  of  the  branches  of  learning  required  to  be  taught  in  the 
schools ;  and,  second,  of  the  best  methods  of  teaching  those 
branches. 

Course  of  Study. 

The  time  of  the  course  extends  through  a  period  of  two  years  ; 
and  is  divided  into  terms  of  twenty  weeks  each,  with  daily  ses- 
sions of  not  less  than  five  hours,  five  days  each  week. 

Branches  of  Study  to  be  Pursued. 

First  Term. — 1.  Arithmetic,  oral  and  written,  begun.  2. 
Geometry  begun.  3.  Chemistry.  5.  Grammar  and  Analysis 
of  the  English  language. 

Second  Term. — 1.  Arithmetic  completed;  Algebra  begun. 
2.  Geometry  completed ;  Geography  and  History  begun.  3. 
Physiology  and  Hygiene.  4.  Grammar  and  Analysis  completed. 
5.  Lessons  once  or  twice  a  week  in  Botany  and  Zoology. 

Third  Term. — 1.  Algebra  completed;  Book-keeping.  2. 
Geography  and  History  completed.  3.  Natural  Philosophy. 
4.  Rhetoric  and  English  Literature.  5.  Lessons  once  or  twice 
a  week  in  Mineralogy  and  Geology. 

Fourth. Term. — 1.  Astronomy.  2.  Mental  and  Moral  Science, 
including  the  principles  and  art  of  Reasoning.  3.  Theory  and 
Art  of  Teaching,  including :  (a)  Principles  and  Methods  of 
10 


70  LAWS    RELATING   TO   PUBLIC    SCHOOLS.  [CHAP.  42. 

Instruction ;  (b)  School  Organization  and  Government ;  ( c) 
School  Laws  of  Massachusetts.  4.  The  Civil  Polity  of  Massa- 
chusetts and  the  United  States. 

In  connection  with  the  foregoing,  constant  and  careful  atten- 
tion to  be  given  throughout  the  course  to  drawing  and  delinea- 
tions on  the  blackboard ;  music ;  spelling,  with  derivations  and 
definitions ;  reading,  including  analysis  of  sounds  and  vocal 
gymnastics ;  and  writing. 

The  Latin  and  French  languages  may  be  pursued  as  optional 
studies,  but  not  to  the  neglect  of  the  English  course. 

General  exercises  in  composition,  gymnastics,  object  lessons, 
etc.,  to  be  conducted  in  such  manner  and  at  such  times  as  the 
principals  shall  deem  best. 

Lectures  on  the  different  branches  pursued,  and  on  related 
topics,  to  be  given  by  gentlemen  from  abroad,  as  the  Board  or 
the  Visitors  shall  direct,  and  also  by  the  teachers  and  more 
advanced  scholars. 

The  order  of  the  studies  in  the  course  may  be  varied  in 
special  cases,  with  the  approval  of  the  Visitors. 

Advanced  Course. 

A  supplemental  course  of  study,  occupying  two  years,  is 
provided  for  the  graduates  of  the  regular  course  who  desire  to 
prepare  themselves  for  the  higher  departments  of  teaching, 
which  includes  the  Latin,  French  and  German  languages,  the 
higher  mathematics,  and  the  other  branches  required  to  be 
taught  in  the  high  schools  of  the  State.  Pupils  who,  on 
entering  the  school,  have  in  view  the  completion  of  this  higher 
course,  may  take  a  part  of  its  studies  in  connection  with  a  part 
of  the  branches  in  the  regular  course,  and  in  this  way,  at  the 
end  of  four  years,  be  prepared  to  graduate  from  both  courses 
simultaneously. 

For  terms  of  admission  to  the  Normal  Art-School,  and  the 
course  of  study  for  the  first  and  second  years,  see  the  reports  of 
the  Visitors  of  the  school,  printed  in  the  thirty-seventh  and 
thirty- eighth  annual  reports  of  the  Board  of  Education. 

DEAF-MUTES.  • 

The  first  steps  taken  by  Massachusetts  for  the  education  of 
her  deaf-mute  children,  were  as  follows  : — 


CHAP.  42.]    LAWS  RELATING  TO  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS.  71 

[Chap.  24,  Resolves  of  1817.] 

Resolved,  That  the  selectmen  and  assessors  of  towns  and  plantations 
ascertain  the  number  of  deaf  and  dumb  persons  in  their  respective 
towns  and  plantations,  and  report  the  same  to  the  secretary  of  this 
Commonwealth,  specifying  their  age,  sex  and  "  situation,  and  that  of 
their  near  relations,  in  point  of  property." 

The  secretary  to  send  a  copy  of  this  resolve  to  each  town,  and  to 
print  the  same  in  all  newspapers  in  which  the  laws  are  printed,  six 
weeks  successively,  prior  to  the  first  Wednesday  of  the  next  session  of 
the  general  court. 

[Chap.  103,  Resolves  of  1818.] 

Resolved,  That  Hon.  John  Phillips,  President  of  the  Senate ;  Hon. 
Timothy  Bigelow,  Speaker,  and  Hon.  Richard  Sullivan,  be  a  com- 
mittee, in  the  recess  of  the  legislature,  to  consider  the  situation  and 
circumstances  of  the  deaf  and  dumb ;  to  extend  their  inquiries  so  far 
as  is  practicable,  as  to  the  views  of  the  neighboring  states,  in  relation 
to  this  subject;  to  see  what  aid  this  Commonwealth  can,  in  their 
opinion,  consistently  bestow  in  promoting  an  institute  for  improving 
the  condition  of  these  persons,  and  the  most  eligible  means  of  carrying 
the  same  into  effect ; — to  report  at  the  first  session  of  the  next  general 
court. 

[Chap.  44,  Resolves  of  1819.] 

Resolved,  That  his  excellency  the  governor  be  authorized  to  give 
sixty  days'  notice,  by  publishing  in  such  newspapers  as  he  ma}T  think 
proper,  that,  upon  the  application  of  the  parent  or  guardian  of  any 
deaf  and  dumb  person  belonging  to  this  Commonwealth,  accompanied 
by  a  certificate  from  the  selectmen  of  the  town  where  such  parent  or 
guardian  resides,  of  the  inability  of  such  parent  or  guardian  to  defray 
the  expense  of  board  and  instruction  of  such  deaf  and  dumb  persons  at 
the  asylum  at  Hartford,  in  the  state  of  Connecticut ;  then,  that  the 
said  expense,  or  part  thereof,  shall  be  defrayed  by  this  Commonwealth, 
in  the  manner  hereinafter  mentioned. 

By  various  Acts  and  Resolves,  the  policy  thus  initiated  has 
been  continued  till  the  present  time. 

On  the  incorporation  of  the  Clarke  Institution  for  Deaf-Mutes 
at  Northampton,  the  following  Act  was  passed  : — 

SECT.  1.     The  governor,  with  the  approval  of  the  board  of  educa- 
tion, is  hereby  authorized  to  send  such  deaf-mutes  or     Governor  ma 
deaf  children  between  five  and  ten  years  of  age,  as  he     f^^tio^o? 
may  deem  fit  subjects  for  instruction  at  the  expense  of     other  schooun 
the  Commonwealth,  to  the  Clarke  Institution  for  Deaf-     fron^fivetaten 
Mutes  at  Northampton,  or  to  such  schools  or  classes  as      ise:,  311. 
now  are  or  may  hereafter  be  established  for  the  education  of  deaf- 
mutes  in  this  Commonwealth. 


72  LAWS   RELATING   TO   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS.  [CHAP.  42. 

SECT.  2.  The  governor  is  hereby  authorized  to  draw  his  warrant  for 
Ma  draw  war-  suc^  sums  as  may  be  necessary  to  provide  for  the 
rant  for  in-  instruction  and  support  of  the  pupils  named  in  the  pre- 

struction  and 

support.  ceding  section,  not  exceeding  for  each  pupil,  the  amount 

which  is  now  or  may  hereafter  be  paid  by  the  Commonwealth,  for  the 
education  and  support  of  deaf-mutes  at  the  American  Asylum  at 
Hartford. 

SECT.  3.  The  education  of  all  deaf-mutes  who  are  now  receiving  or 
Board  of  edu  •mav  nerea^ter  receive  instruction  at  the  expense  of  the 
cation  ehaii  Commonwealth,  shall  be  subject  to  the  direction  and 

supervise  in-  J 

struction  and        supervision  of  the  board  of  education  ;  and  said  board 

report  annu- 

ally.  shall  set  forth  in  their  annual  report  the  number  of  pupils 

so  instructed,  the  cost  of  their  instruction  and  support,  the  way  in 
which  the  money  appropriated  by  the  Commonwealth  has  been 
expended,  and  such  other  information  as  said  board  may  deem 
important  to  be  laid  before  the  legislature. 

Governor  may  SECT.  4.  The  governor  is  hereby  authorized  to  extend 
term^pupSJ  to  ten  vears>  tne  term  °f  instruction  now  granted  to  deaf- 
to  ten  years.  mutes  educated  at  the  expense  of  the  Commonwealth. 

The  governor,  with  the  approval  of  the  board  of  education,  is 
1869,333.  hereby  authorized  to  send  such  deaf-mutes  or  deaf 

?enle™°I™£l  children  as  he  may  deem  fit  subjects  for  instruction  at 
Hartford1"™  £  the  expense  of  the  Commonwealth,  to  the  American 
8BJS5H82:  AsJlum  at  Hartford,  or  to  the  Clarke  Institution  for 
parent?0  etc88  Deaf-Mutes  at  Northampton  [or  any  other  school  for 
prefer.  deaf-mutes  in  this  Commonwealth],  as  the  parents  or 

guardians  may  prefer. 

No    beneficiary    of    this    Commonwealth    in    any    institution    or 

school  for  the  education  of  deaf-mutes,  shall  be  with- 

87i,  300.  drawn  therefrom,  except  with  the  consent  of  the  proper 

authorities  of  such  institution  or  school,  or  of  the  governor  of  this 

Commonwealth. 

Such  duties  with  reference  to  institutions  for  the  instruction  of  the 

deaf  and  dumb,  and  of  the  blind,  as  are  now  invested  by 

institutions  for     law  in  the  board  of  state  charities,  are  hereby  transferred 


e"     to  and  vested  in  the  board  of  education  ;  and  such  inst£- 

blind,  to  report  ,  .  ,  .  ,     ,    ,  „  .  , 

to  board  of  tutions,  when  aided  b}'  a  grant  of  money  from  the  state 
treasury,  shall  make  report  to  the  said  last-named  board 
instead  of  to  the  former,  as  prescribed  by  chapter  two  hundred  and 
fortjM-hree  of  the  acts  of  the  year  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
sixty-seven. 


CHAP.  42.]          LAWS   RELATING   TO   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS.  73 


WORCESTER  COUNTY  FREE  INSTITUTE. 

[Chapters  57  and  72,  Resolves  1869.] 

Resolved,  That  there  be  allowed  and  paid  out  of  the  treasury  of  the 
Commonwealth  the  sum  of  fifty  thousand  dollars  to  the  Worcester 
County  Free  Institute  of  Industrial  Science.  And  in  consideration  of 
this  grant,  said  institute  shall  annually  receive  twenty  pupils,  and 
instruct  them  during  the  entire  course  free  of  tuition;  such  pupils  to  be 
selected  by  the  board  of  education  from  the  different  counties  in  this 
Commonwealth,  except  that  none  shall  be  taken  from  Worcester 
County. 

Resolved,  That  the  resolve  in  favor  of  the  Worcester  County  Free 
Institute  of  Industrial  Science,  approved  on  the  tenth  day  of  May  of 
the  present  year,  shall  not  be  construed  to  require  said  institution  to 
retain  and  instruct,  free  of  tuition,  at  any  one  time,  more  than  twenty 
pupils  to  be  selected  by  the  board  of  education. 

PUBLIC  LIBRARIES. 

[Gen.  Stat.,  Chap.  33.] 

Town  and  City  Libraries. 

SECT.  8.  Each  town  and  city  may  establish  and  maintain  a  public 
library  therein,  with  or  without  branches,  for  the  use  of 

J  Towns  and  cit- 

the   inhabitants   thereof,   and    provide    suitable  rooms     ies  may  estal>- 

lish  libraries. 

therefor,  under  such  regulations  for  its  government  as      185i,  sos,  §  i. 
may  from  time  to  time  be  prescribed  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  town, 
or  the  city  council. 

SECT.  9.     Any  town  or  city  may  appropriate  money  for  suitable 
buildings  or  rooms,  and  for  the  foundation  of  such  library 
a  sum  not  exceeding  one  dollar  for  each  of  its  ratable     priate  money 

,-,       .        .v  •!•          ji     A.     •  i  •   i  i         and  receive  de- 

polls   in  the  year  next  preceding  that  in   which   such     vises,  etc.,  for 


appropriation  is  made ;  may  also  appropriate  annually, 
for  the  maintenance  and  increase  thereof,  a  sum  not  8o9>  2o' 
exceeding  fifty  cents  for  each  of  its  ratable  polls  in  the  year  next  pre- 
ceding that  in  which  such  appropriation  is  made,  and  may  receive,  hold 
and  manage,  any  devise,  bequest  or  donation  for  the  establishment, 
increase  or  maintenance  of  a  public  library  within  the  same. 

Social  Libraries. 

SECT.  10.     Seven  or  more  proprietors  of  a  library  may  form  them- 
selves into  a  corporation,  under  such  corporate  name  as 

_  .  Proprietors  of 

they  may  adopt,  for  the  purpose  of  preserving,  enlarging     library  may  be 
and  using  such  library  ;  with  the  powers,  privileges,  du-     JuT1"1 
ties  and  liabilities  of  corporations  organized  according  to     3/6. ' 


74  LAWS    RELATING   TO    PUBLIC    SCHOOLS.  [CHAP.  42. 

the  provisions  of  chapter  sixty-eight,  so  far  as  the  same  may  be  appli- 
cable, and  may  hold  real  and  personal  estate  to  an  amount  not  exceed- 
ing five  thousand  dollars  in  addition  to  the  value  of  their  books. 

SECT.  1 1 .  Upon  application  of  five  or  more  of  such  proprietors,  a  jus- 
Warningmeet-  ticc  of  tne  Peace  mav  issue  his  warrant  to  one  of  them, 
officers,°etc.  °f  directing  nim  t(>  caU  a  meeting  of  the  proprietors,  at  the 
R.  s.  41,  §§  i,  2.  time  an(j  place  and  for  the  purposes  expressed  in  the 
warrant.  The  meeting  shall  be  called  by  posting  up  the  substance  of 
the  warrant  in  some  public  place  in  the  town  where  the  library  is  kept, 
seven  days  at  least  before  the  time  of  the  meeting ;  at  which,  if  not  less 
than  seven  of  the  proprietors  meet,  they  may  choose  a  president,  a  clerk 
who  shall  be  sworn,  a  librarian,  collector,  treasurer  and  such  other 
officers  as  they  may  deem  necessary ;  and  may  determine  upon  the 
mode  of  calling  future  meetings. 

SECT.  12.  The  treasurer  shall  give  bond  with  sufficient  sureties,  to 
Treasurer  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  proprietors,  for  the  faithful  dis- 

give  bond.  .  _ .  .      ..     . . 

R.  s.  41,  §  4.  charge  of  his  duties. 

SECT.  13.  Such  proprietors  may,  by  assessments  on  the  several 

Assessments  shares,  raise  such  money  as  they  may  judge  necessary 

R.  s.  41,  §  5.  for  the  purposes  of  preserving,  enlarging  and  using  the 
library. 

[Chap.  250,  Acts  of  1869.] 

SECT.  1.  Moneys  received  by  the  treasurer  of  any  county,  under 
the  provisions  of  chapter  one  hundred  and  thirty  of  the  acts  of  the  year 
eighteen  hundred  and  sixtj^-seven,  and  not  expended  in  the  payment  of 
damages  done  by  dogs  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  said  act,  shall 
be  paid  back  to  the  treasurers  of  the  several  cities  and  towns  of  said 
count}',  in  the  month  of  January  of  each  year,  in  proportion  to  the 
amount  paid  by  said  city  or  town  to  said  county  treasurer ;  and  the 
moneys  so  refunded  shall  be  expended  for  the  support  of  public  libra- 
ries or  schools,  in  addition  to  the  amount  annually  appropriated  by 
said  city  or  town  for  those  purposes.  In  the  county  of  Suffolk,  moneys 
received  by  any  treasurer  of  a  city  or  town,  under  the  provisions  of 
said  act,  and  not  expended  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  the 
same,  shall  be  appropriated  by  the  school  committee  of  said  city  or 
town  for  the  support  of  the  public  schools  therein  established. 

SECT.  2.  The  last  clause  of  section  twelve  of  chapter  one  hundred 
and  thirt}r  of  the  acts  of  the  year  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-seven,  is 
hereby  repealed. 

[Chap.  26,  Acts  of  1871.] 

SECT.  1.  The  city  governments  of  the  several  cities  and  the  select- 
men of  the  several  towns  in  this  Commonwealth,  in  which  may  now  or 
hereafter  be  public  libraries'  owned  and  maintained  by  said  cities  and 


CHAP.  42.]          LAWS   RELATING   TO   PUBLIC    SCHOOLS.  75 

towns,  are  hereby  authorized  to  place  in  the  public  libraries,  for  the 
use  of  the  inhabitants,  such  books,  reports  and  laws  as  have  been  or 
may  be  received  from  the  Commonwealth. 

[Chap.  42,  Acts  of  1872.] 

SECT.  1.  Whoever  wilfully  and  maliciously  or  wantonly  and  with- 
out cause  writes  upon,  injures,  defaces,  tears  or  destroys  any  book, 
plate,  picture^  engraving  or  statue,  belonging  to  any  law,  town,  city 
or  other  public  -library,  shall  be  punished  by  a  fine  of  not  less  than  five 
dollars  nor  more  than  fifty  dollars,  or  by  imprisonment  in  the  jail  not 
exceeding  six  months  for  every  such  offence. 

SECT.  2.  Chapter  sixty-nine  of  the  acts  of  the  year  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  sixty-seven  is  hereby  repealed. 

[Chap.  306,  Acts  of  1873.] 

Any  city  or  town  may  appropriate  and  pay  such  sum  annually  as  it 
may  see  fit,  toward  defraying  the  expenses  of  maintaining  any  library 
within  such  city  or  town  to  which  the  inhabitants  are  allowed  free 
access  for  the  purpose  of  using  the  same  on  the  premises. 

According  to  the  returns  of  1872,  there  were  eighty-two  free 
public  libraries  in  eighty-two  cities  and  towns,  containing  564,- 
479  volumes,  with  au  addition  in  1871  of  50,130  volumes,  and 
delivering  during  the  year  1,345,179  volumes. 

Of  social  libraries,  there  were,  in  108  cities  and  towns,  213, 
containing  777,569  volumes. 

Total  number  of  volumes  in  libraries  returned,  1,342,048, 
exclusive  of  private  and  Sabbath  School  libraries. 

JOSEPH  WHITE. 


INDEX 


ANCIENT  LAWS:  Page 

Colonial,  1642, ' 4 

CONSTITUTION  OF  MASSACHUSETTS: 

provisions  of,  relating  to  schools, 5 

decision  of  supreme  court  (sectarian  schools— Art.  18,  Amendment),         .  5 

Abstract  of  school  returns  required 9, 12 

Adult  schools,  any  town  may  establish  them,  etc., 23 

to  be  under  the  superintendence  of  school  committee,       ....  23 

Agents  of  the  board,  may  be  appointed;  their  duties, 10, 13 

Apparatus,  books  of  reference,  etc.,  authority  to  purchase,         ....  28 

Asylum  for  Deaf-mutes  at  Hartford, .  71, 72 

Attendance  of  childrea.  in  the  schools  (see  Children), 

Bible  to  be  read  daily  in  public  schools,       . 27 

Board  of  Education,  how  constituted, 8 

conservative  and  progressive,       .........  10 

list  of  members, 11 

term  of  office  o.f  members  of, 8 

vacancies  in,  how  filled, 8 

may  take  grants,  etc.,  in  trust,  for  educational  purposes,  ....  8 

to  pay  over  to  State  treasurer  all  money  thus  received,     ....  8 

duty  and  responsibility  of  State  treasurer, "    .  9 

to  prescribe  form  of  school  registers  and  blanks  for  returns,  etc.,    .       .  9,  10 

to  report  annually  to  the  legislature 9, 12 

incidental  expenses  of,  to  be  paid  by  the  State,  ......  10 

nfey  appoint  a  secretary ;  his  duties, 9 

may  appoint  agents ;  their  duties, 10, 13 

assistant-librarian  to  be  clerk  of, 10 

Books  used  in  schools,  not  to  be  sectarian, 27 

to  be  determined  by  committee, 27 

changes  in,  how  made, •  27 

if  changes  are  made,  to  be  supplied  by  the  town, 28 

to  be  supplied  at  cost,   . 28 

how  authority  to  purchase  to  be  exercised, 28 

if  not  furnished  by  parents,  to  be  supplied  by  the  town,    .       .       .       .  •  28 

expense  of,  so  supplied,  to  be  taxed  to  parents, 28 

if  parents  unable  to  pay,  tax  to  be  remitted,      ......  28 

duty  of  committee  to  furnish  them, 28 

furnished  gratuitously  by  cities  and  towns  and  loaned  to  pupils,     .       .  28 

Children  to  be  sent  to  school,  and  penalty  for  neglect, 59 

when  such  penalty  not  to  be  incurred, 59 

duties  of  truant  officers,  etc.,  in  relation  to  non-attendance  of, .       .       .  59 


78  .  INDEX. 

Page 
Children,  employment  of,  in  manufacturing  establishments,  and  regulations 

respecting  them, 62 

under  10  not  to  be  employed,  nor  under  15,  unless,  etc. ;  provisos,  .        .  62 

under  15  not  to  work  over  60  hours  a  week, 62 

penalty  for  violating  act,  or  consenting  thereto, 63 

corporations  not  liable, 64 

State  constable  to  enforce,  and  report  to  governor  concerning,  ...  63 

by-laws  respecting  habitual  truants,  etc 63 

truant  officers,  how  appointed,  powers,  compensation,       ....  63 

minor  convicted  may  be  committed, 63 

justices,  etc.,  having  jurisdiction,  compensation,        .....  64 

county  commissioners,  when  to  provide  a  place  of  confinement,      .       .  64 

may  be  sent  to  Primary  School  at  Monson, 64 

may  attend  school  in  the  place  of  their  legal  residence 59 

when  living  remote  from  school,  may  attend  in  an  adjoining  town,  etc., .  59 

under  guardianship,  may  attend  where  guardian  resides, ....  60 

may  not  attend  whose  parents  or  guardians  reside  in  another  State,        .  61 
may  attend  in  other  towns,  with  consent  of  committee,  etc.,     .       .       .60,  62 

not  to  be  permitted  to  attend  school  until  vaccinated,        ....  60 

not  to  be  excluded  on  account  of  color,  etc., 60 

grounds  of  exclusion  to  be  stated  in  writing, 60 

if  unlawfully  excluded,  how  damages  obtained, 60 

plaintiff  may  examine  school  committee, 60 

may  be  conveyed  to  and  from  school  at  expense  of  the  town,  ...  60 

when  habitually  truant,  towns,  etc.,  may  make  by-laws  concerning,  etc.,  63 

may  be  committed  to  institutions,  etc., 63 

employed  in  manufacturing  establishments,  attendance  by,     ...  62 

penalty  when  employed  in  violation  of  law, -etc.,       .       .        .        .        .  63 

of  drunken  and  vicious  parents,  provision  for 64 

when  orphan  and  neglected,  proceedings  in  relation  to,  .       .        .   64,  65 

under  15  years  of  age  not  to  be  employed  as  acrobats,  etc.,      .        .        .  66 

Cities,  provisions  of  chapter  38  to  apply  to,  .        .        .        .        .       .        .        .  31 

Clarke  Institution  for  Deaf-mutes, 71 

Clergymen,  duties  of,  to  schools, 24 

Clerk  of  school  districts,  to  be  chosen  and  sworn,  and  duties  of,        ...  43 

to  hold  office  till  successor  is  chosen, 43 

liable  only  for  want  of  integrity, 43 

Committees.    (See  School  Committee  and  Prudential  Committee.) 
Constitution  of   State,  provisions  of,  for  public  schools  (Chap.  5,  secj.   2. 

Amendments,  Art.  18) 5,23 

Contiguous  districts  in  adjoining  towns,  may  unite, 46,  47 

terms  of  union  and  separation  of, 47,  48 

meetings  of,  how  called ;  prudential  committee  of,  how  chosen,       .       .  48 

raising  money  and  assessment  of  taxes  by,       ......  48 

school  committee  of, 48 

County  Associations  (see  Teachers' Associations), 14 

Deaf-mutes,  education  of, 70,  71 

institutions  for  educating  them  and  the  blind,  to  report  to  Board  of 

Education 72 

Districts.    (See  School  Districts.) 

Educational  institutions,  returns  of, 56 

Evening  Schools  may  be  kept,        .               23 

school  committee  to  have  superintendence, 23 

Female  assistant,  when  average  number  of  pupils  exceeds  fifty,        ...  23 


INDEX.  79 

Page 

Graduated  tables,  importance  of, 12 

High  Schools  to  be  kept  in  towns  of  500  families, 21 

branches  to  be  taught  in 21 

must  be  kept  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  town, 21 

to  be  kept  not  less  than  36  weeks 'in  each  year 22 

qualifications  of  teachers  of,  in  towns  of  4,000  inhabitants,       ...  21 

number  of  families  to  be  ascertained  by  latest  public  census,  ...  22 

may  be  established  by  two  adjacent  towns  having  less  than  500  families,  22 

committees,  location,  and  apportionment  of  expenses  of,  ....  22 

duty  of  school  committee  in  relation  to, 22 

admission  to,  how  regulated, 69 

Industrial  Schools, 21 

Industrial  Science,  Free  Institute  of,      .               73 

Libraries,  Public,  towns  and  cities  may  establish, 73 

money  may  be  appropriated  and  devises,  etc.,  received  by  towns,  etc.,  for,  73 

appropriation  of  tax  on  dogs  for, 74 

authorized  to  take  books,  reports,  etc.,  received  from  Commonwealth,    .  75 

penalty  for  injuring  books,  etc.,  in, 75 

Social,  proprietors  of,  may  be  a  corporation, 73 

may  hold  real  and  personal  estate, 74 

meetings  of,  and  choice  of  officers, 74 

treasurer  of,  to  give  bond,  and  assessments  for,        ....  74 

number  of  books  in,  1872 75 

Manufacturing  establishments,  children  of  certain  ages  not  to  be  employed  in, 

unless,  etc., 62 

penalty  for  violation,  etc., 63 

duty  of  State  constable  concerning,                    .  ' 63 

Neglected  children  (see  Children), 64 

Normal  Schools,  establishment  of, 66-69 

course  of  study  in, .  69,  70 

Prudential  committees,  how  to  be  chosen, 42 

general  duties  of, 42 

may  contract  with  teachers  when  the  town  so  determines,        ...  42 

may  consist  of  three  when  authorized  to  contract  with  teachers,      .       .  42 

if  office  of,  vacant,  how  filled, 42 

if  not  chosen,  duties  of,  to  be  performed  by  school  committee,         .       .  42 

in  union  districts,  how  constituted,  and  powers  and  duties  of,  .        .        .  46,  47 
in  districts  formed  by  contiguous  districts  in  adjoining  towns,  how 

chosen,  and  powers  and  duties  of, 47,  48 

Registers  (see  School  Registers),  .                       53 

Report  of  Board  of  Education  and  its  Secretary,  required,  .  9 

number  to  be  printed.    (See  Gen.  Stat.,  chap.  4,  sect.  4.) 

how  received,  delivered,  etc., 66 

preservation  of, »  56 

Reports  of  School  Committees.    (See  School  Reports.) 
Returns.    (See  School  Returns.) 

of  educational  institutions,  etc.,  and  Indian  schools,         .       .       ,       .  56,  57 

Schools,  Public,  towns  to  maintain  a  sufficient  number  of,  six  months  each  year,  21 

branches  to  be  taught  in,      .       ,       t        t        ;        t       t       »        »        >  31 


80  INDEX. 

Page 

Schools,  Drawing  classes  in  cities, 21 

in  which  the  higher  branches  are  taught  (see  High  Schools),  .       .       .  21 

Public,  for  persons  over  12  years,  and  Evening  Schools,    ....  23 

High,  in  adjacent  towns  (see  High  Schools), 22 

when  an  average  of  fifty  scholars  in,  a  female  assistant  to  be  employed,  23 

duty  to,  of  instructors  of  colleges,  ministers,  etc., 23,  24 

industrial, 23,24 

provisions  of  State  constitution  relating  to  (see  Constitution  of  Massa- 
chusetts, chap.  5,  sect.  2.    Amendments,  Art.  18),         ....  5 
towns  to  raise  money  for,  to  be  assessed,  etc.,  like  other  town  taxes,       .  24 
funds  of  corporations  not  affected  by  provisions  for,  .       .  24 
forfeiture  by  town  for  neglect  to  raise  money  for,  or  to  choose  school 

committee, 24 

three-fourths  of  forfeiture  to  be  appropriated  for, 24 

examinations  of,  and  visits  to,  by  committee, 26 

Bible  to  be  read  in,  daily, -  ....  2J 

sectarian  books  to  be  excluded  from, 27 

provisions  respecting,  in  towns,  to  apply  to  cities,  unless,  etc., .        .        .25,  29 
wilful  interruption  or  disturbance  of,  how  punished  (see  Gen.  Stat., 

chap.  165,  sect.  23), 66 

children  not  to  be  excluded  from,  on  account  of  color,  etc.,      ...  60 

School  Committee,  when  and  how  chosen,  and  term  of  office 24 

women  eligible  to, 25 

vacancies  in,  how  filled,        . 25 

when  the  whole  decline,  how  new  committee  elected,        ....  25 

term  of  service  of  member  filling  vacancy  in,    ..."...  25 

term  of  office  in  cities, 25 

to  continue  in  office  for  certain  purposes,  after,  etc., 25 

how  number  of,  increased  and  diminished, 26 

to  appoint  a  secretary  and  keep  records, 26 

to  prescribe  course  of  study, 27 

duties  and  powers  of, — to  contract  with,  examine,  approve  and  dismiss 
teachers,  visit  and  examine  schools,  require  daily  reading  of  the  Bible, 

supply  books,  etc., -.26,27,54 

duty  of,  when  school  is  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  town,         ...  28 

compensation  of, ' 28 

duty  of,  as  to  persons  between  5  and  15  years, 54 

to  appoint  superintendent  of  schools,  etc., 29 

not  to  receive  compensation  when  superintendent  is  appointed,        .        .  29 
to  have  charge  of  school-houses  in  towns  not  districted,  and  provide 

fuel,  etc., 30 

how  constituted,  and  duties  of,  in  High  Schools  established  by  adjacent 

towns, 22 

to  have  superintendence,  etc.,  of  schools  established  for  persons  over  12 

years  of  age, 23 

forfeiture  by  the  town  for  not  choosing, 24 

to  perform  duties  of  prudential  committee  in  districts  where  none  chosen,  42 
may  establish  school  and  employ  teacher  in  district  which  refuses  or 

neglects  to  do  so 42 

may  provide  school-houses  in  districts  neglecting  to  organize,  etc., .        .  46 

powers  and  duties  of,  in  union  districts 22 

to  notify  Secretary  of  Board  of  Education  if  blanks  not  received,  .        .  54 

to  make  returns  annually, 54 

to  cause  school  registers  to  be  kept, 55 

to  return  the  manner  of  using  the  money  received  from  the  State,  .        .  55 

to  make  detailed  report,  in  print,  annually, 55 


INDEX.  81 

Page 

School  Committee,  to  transmit  two  copies  to  Secretary  of  Board  of  Education,  55 

may  be  indemnified  for  expense  in  defending  against  libel,  ...  58 

authorized  to  charge  expense  of  printing,  etc., 58 

to  deposit  a  copy  with  town  clerk 55 

secretary  of,  to  preserve  one  copy  of  report  of  board,  etc.,  ...  56 
chairman  and  secretary  of,  in  certain  cases,  may  sign  certificate  in  the 

returns, 56 

liable  to  forfeit  compensation,  if  neglect  to  make  returns,  ...  56 

to  inquire  into  neglect  of  parents,  etc., 59 

to  have  charge  of  high  schools,  with  powers,  etc.,  of  prudential  com- 
mittees in  districts, 22 

to  determine  number  and  qualifications  of  scholars  to  be  admitted  to 

high  schools, 59 

to  regulate  attendance  of  scholars  upon  schools  in,  adjoining  towns,  .  59 

not  to  allow  children  to  attend  school  until  vaccinated,  ....  60 

to  appoint  truant  officers,  and  fix  their  compensation 63 

of  contiguous  districts,  when  united  in  adjoining  towns,  how  constituted 

(see  Contiguous  Districts),        .       .    '    .        .        .        .        .        .       .  47, 48 

School  Districts,  towns  may  be  divided  into,  except,  etc.,    .....  40 

limits  of,  not  to  be  altered,  so  as  to  change  taxation  oftener  than  once 

in  ten  years, ' 41 

to  be  corporations  for  certain  purposes, 41 

may  be  abolished  by  towns,  etc .  41 

towns  to  vote  on  abolition  of,  every  third  year,  ......  41 

when  abolished,  not  to  be  restored, 41 

when  abolished,  corporate  powers  to  continue  for  certain  purposes,  .  41 

may  choose  prudential  committee,  if  town  so  determine,  ....  42 

may  fill  vacancies  in  office  of  prudential  committee, 42 

if,  neglect  or  refuse  to  establish  schools,  etc., 42 

meetings  in,  how  called  and  warned, 42,  43 

to  choose  a  clerk, 43 

may  raise  money  for  school-houses,  etc., 43 

may  fix  site  of  school-houses, 43 

school-houses  for,  may  be  provided  by  the  town, 43 

if,  cannot  determine  the  site,  the  selectmen  shall  do  it,  .  .  .  .  44 

penalty  of,  for  not  providing  school-house, 44 

taxes  in,  how  and  on  whom,  etc.,  to  be  assessed  and  collected,  .  .  44 

non-residents  in,  where  taxed, 44 

property  of  manufacturing  corporations  in,  where  taxed 44 

taxes  in,  to  be  assessed  like  town  taxes, 45 

money  raised  in,  how  to  be  applied, , .  45 

refusing  to  raise  money,  the  town  may  order  it,  and  may  empower  the 

selectmen,  etc., 45 

neglecting  to  organize,  school  committee  may  provide  school-houses,  etc.,  46 

duties,  compensation,  etc.,  of  assessors,  etc.,  in  matters  relating  to,  .  45 

act  to  abolish  school  district  system, 49,  50 

act  to  reestablish  school  districts, 51 

opinions  concerning  abolition  of, .  52 

act  to  enable  towns  to  abolish, 53 

School  Funds,  how  invested ;  income  only  to  be  used 18 

commissioners  of, .  .  .  .  • 18 

income  of,  how  distributed ;  how  apportioned,  for  schools,  etc.,  .  .  18,  19 

when  towns  are  not  entitled  to  share  the  income  of, 19 

income  of,  how  to  be  applied  by  towns,       .......  19 

twenty-five  per  cent,  of  income  of,  may  be  used  for  purchase  of  books 

of  reference,  etc., 19 


82  INDEX. 

Page 

School  Funds,  subject  to  order  of  school  committee,  and  not  to  vote  of  th  e  town,  20 

for  teachers'  institutes, 14 

School  Fund,  Todd  Normal,  income  of,  how  to  be  applied,         ....  20 

School-houses,  in  towns  not  districted,  to  be  maintained  "by  towns,     ...  29 

penalty  for  refusing  to  maintain, 30 

location  of,  to  be  determined  by  towns, 30 

to  be  kept  in  good  order  by  school  committee,  unless,  etc.,       ...  30 

land  not  exceeding  eighty  square  rods  may  be  taken  for,  etc.,  ...  30 

in  such  case,  proceedings,  jury,  damages,  costs,  etc.,         ....  30 

land  for,  to  revert  to  owner,  etc., 31 

use  of,  to  be  under  charge  of  school  committee  in  towns  not  districted,  .  31 

money  may  be  raised  for, ....  43 

site  of,  how  determined, 43,  44 

penalty  for  not  providing, 44 

money  raised  for  the  building  and  repairing  of,  to  be  at  the  disposal  of 

committee,  etc., 45 

may  be  provided  by  school  committee,  when  districts  neglect  to  organize,  46 

taxes  for,  how  assessed  and  collected, 44 

School  Registers,  to  be  sent  to  town  clerks  by  Secretary  Board  of  Education,  .  9,  10 

to  be  delivered  by  town  clerk  to  school  committee, 54 

to  be  kept  in  all  the  public  schools, 55 

to  be  returned  by  teachers  to  school  committee, 56 

if  not  properly  kept,  etc.,  teacher  not  entitled  to  payment,  etc.,        .        .  56 

school  committee  have  no  right  to  waive  keeping  of,         ....  56 

School  Reports,  to  be  made  annually,  in  detail,  by  school  committees,      .        .  55 

to  be  printed,  size  of,  two  copies  transmitted,  etc., 55 

penalty  for  neglect  by  committee  to  prepare,  print,  etc.,    ....  55 

duty  of  committees  respecting, 55 

if  not  received  in  time,  secretary  to  notify  of  failure,        ....  55 

if  informal  or  incorrect,  to  be  returned, 55 

penalt)7,  when  returned  for  correction,  or  not  received,      ....  55 

School  Returns,  blank  form  of  inquiries  for,  to  be  prescribed  by  the  Board  of 

Education, 9 

blanks  for,  to  be  sent  to  town  clerks, 10 

if  blanks  not  received,  committees  to  notify 54 

to  embrace  number  of  children  between  5  and  15,  etc.,  to  be  certified 

under  oath  by  school  committee, 54 

form  of  certificate  for, 54 

to  be  transmitted  to  secretary  of  board,      .               54 

to  specify  manner  of  using  money  receive    .rom  State  School  Fund,       .  55 

if  no$  transmitted  in  time,  secretary  to  notify,  etc., 55 

if  informal,  etc.,  to  be  returned  for  correction, 55 

when  so  returned,  town  to  forfeit  ten  per  cent.,  etc., 55 

when  not  received  before  June,  town  to  forfeit  whole  share,  etc.,     .        .  55 

if  mailed  in  season,  town  exempted  from  forfeiture,          ....  55 

how  may  be  signed  in  certain  cases 56 

when  not  transmitted  by  neglect  of  committee,  their  compensation  may 

be  withheld, 56 

Secretary  of  Board  of  Education,  how  appointed  and  duties  of,         ...  9 

compensation  of, 10 

annual  reports  of, 12 

Superintendent  of  Schools,  appointment,  duties,  etc.,  of, 29 

when  appointed,  committee  to  receive  no  pay, 29 

compensation  of, 29 

school  committee  to  determine  salary  of, 29 

two  or  more  towns  may  unite  in  choosing, 29 


INDEX.  83 

Page 

Taxes  in  school  district,  may  be  voted  by  district  and  certified  to  assessors,     .  43 
on  personal  estate  and  on  all  lands,  if  occupied  by  owner,  in  district 

where  he  lives, 44 

on  real  estate  of  manufacturing  corporations,  in  district  where  situated,  44 

on  land  of  non-residents,  in  districts  where  assessors  determine,     .        .  44 

on  land  of  non-resident,  in  the  same  district, 44 

how  assessed,  abatement,  collection  of, 45 

Teachers,  selection  and  qualifications  of, 26 

to  receive  and  file  a  certificate ;  when  and  how  paid,         ....  26 

may  be  dismissed  by  school  committee,  etc., 26 

Teachers'  Associations,  when  entitled  to  receive  money  from  the  State,     .       .  14 

money  to  be  paid  on  certificate,  etc., 14 

not  under  control  of  board, 17 

Teachers'  Institutes,  to  be  appointed  on  application  of  fifty  teachers,        .       .  14 

expenses  of,  how  paid ;  length  of  sessions  of,  etc.,    .....  14 

importance  and  history  of, 14, 15 

list  of  towns  where  held,      .                       16 

duty  of  school  committee  concerning, 15 

Todd  Fund,  amount  of,  etc., .       .  19,  20 

Truant  Children,  towns  and  cities  may  make  regulations  and  by-laws,  with 

penalties  concerning,  to  be  approved  by  superior  court,         ...  63 

convicts,  under  such  by-laws,  may  be  fined  or  committed,  etc.,        .       .  63 

may  be  sent  to  Primary  School  at  Monson, 64 

how  discharged, 64 

•  proceedings  against,  etc., 64,  65 

Truant  officers  to  be  appointed,  duties  and  compensation  of,      ....  63 

Union  Districts,  may  be  formed  by  contiguous  districts, 46,  47 

how  organized ;  location  of  school-house  of, 46 

assessments  in,  how  made ;  committee  of,  how  constituted ;  powers  and 

duties  of, 47 

schools  to  be  maintained  in  districts  composing, 47 

separation  of, 48 

Wards,  where  may  attend  school, .       ...  60 

Warrant,  sufiiciency  of, 58 

Worcester  County,  Free  Institute  of,  act  in  favor  of, 73 


ru.  U6563 


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